On Thursday, the Council of Ministers approved a temporary and exceptional supplement to the overtime wages of doctors, which the Government considers necessary to guarantee the operation of emergency services.
“The amount of the supplement will be increased progressively, with additional incentives of 40% to 70% of the base remuneration of each doctor, for each block of 40 hours of work performed, in addition to payment for the hours of work actually provided,” says the statement from the Council of Ministers, which met in Oliveira de Azeméis, Aveiro.
According to the executive, The decree-law now approved establishes a temporary and exceptional system of “reward for doctors of the National Health Service (SNS)”through a salary supplement that “values work performed beyond the normal working day.”
According to the statement, which states that the representative structures of doctors were heard, this is a system of “voluntary nature for the worker” and is “necessary to guarantee the functioning of the NHS emergency services.”
On Monday, the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) accused the government of wanting to pay overtime at the rate of normal work, with no maximum limits until the end of the year, compromising patient safety.
The federation accused the ministry of having presented a draft decree-law that “It aims to pay doctors for additional work on top of normal work, with no maximum limits until the end of the year”.
Fnam said the diploma now approved was not negotiated with the unions and is “erroneously” described as an assessment of the performance of additional work, after reaching the annual legal limit: 150 hours or 250 hours in the case of full-time doctors.
Source: Observadora
