The Senior Health Technicians (TSS) of the Ricardo Jorge Institute announced this Friday protest actions during this month to demand that the Government unblock the progression contests, alleging that they have been stagnant in their careers for 20 years.
“They are highly specialized and qualified professionals who enjoy, for the most part, wages of less than 1,500 euros after 20 years of work”, said one of these professionals from the Doctor Ricardo Jorge National Institute of Health (INSA) to the Lusa agency.
According to Sónia Pedro, the approximately 60 TSS of the institute, mostly biologists and biochemists, “decided that they are going to stop as a form of protest during this month”, but not through a strike since they do not have a representative union.
Thus, “demonstrations and other protest actions” are planned, beginning with their participation in the demonstration promoted by the +SNS Movement on Saturday in Lisbon to demand the strengthening of human resources and investment in the National Health Service.
According to the technician, who works in the area of prenatal diagnosis in genetic analysis, the TSS also wants the Ministry of Finance to unblock the opening of tenders for career progression.
“These biologists and biochemists ensure diagnoses in the area of human genetics, infectious diseases, clinical and environmental analyses, manage laboratories and laboratory sectors, are quality auditors, carry out scientific research, represent Portugal in international organizations, among many other contributions to the SNS and, despite that, they have been stagnant in their careers for 20 years,” he lamented.
At stake is one of the special races created 30 years ago that continues to await review and requires two types of training, a university degree and a specialty internship promoted by the Ministry of Health.
“INSA has 59 professionals in this career, and 89.8% of them are in the two lower categories of the career, made up of four categories”, explained Sónia Pedro, for whom the “opening of vacancies for the progression of the career of all these specialists would have a residual economic impact”.
In April, INSA’s senior health technicians decided, in an internal plenary session, to request a legal opinion from a law firm, which is in the process of being finalized and will soon be delivered to the institute’s management, to the Central Administration of the Health (ACSS). ) and the Ministry of Health.
At that time, INSA informed Lusa that the last TSS career promotion contests were opened in 2004 and 2005, after which several years of career in the civil service were frozen, specifically between 2005 and 2007 and 2011 and 2017.
“Since then, and with the end of the career freeze, INSA has made several efforts to provide budget items intended to promote both this and other vertical careers, since, currently, in the public administration it is only possible to open middle grade procedures or higher categories of the career, with prior authorization from the Treasury”, said the administration of the institute at the time.
Source: Observadora
