It's now official, the Algarve's nurses, doctors and back-up staff all are going on strike on August 22nd.
In a press conference held today in Faro, the Algarve's regional coordinator for the Union of Portuguese Nurses, Nuno Manjua said that notice of the strike has been handed to the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve.
This will be the first joint strike by union members in the Algarve, the aim is to freeze the health system and bring about changes to the management of the region's health professionals, the number of staff which is well below the legal minimum and to increase the supply of medical products needed to run an efficient and safe service.
Manjua called for the day to be a regional day in defence of the National Health Service in the Algarve.
According to Margarida Agostinho of the Association of Physicians of the South, many doctors have left the service by taking early retirement due to the poor working conditions resulting mainly from a lack of personnel and equipment. Others have switched to the private sector.
"The doctors are taking early retirement and are leaving hospitals and health centres because the working conditions really have deteriorated a lot," said Agostinho who questioned the benefits of creating the Hospital of the Algarve management structure and the merging of three hospitals last summer.
Margarida Agostinho said that services in Portimão hospital had suffered most from the merger and the Orthopedics service had declined and the Cardiology service has been suspended.
