Pharmacists of the National Health Service (SNS) will be on strike between this Tuesday and Thursday against the stalemate in negotiations with the guardianship, scheduling a meeting for the last day at the Ministry of Health, in Lisbon.
The strike, which began at 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday and will end at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, occurs after the guardianship postponed a meeting that was scheduled for the beginning of the month.
NHS pharmacists will be on strike between October 22 and 24
The SNF recalls that, during six months of meetings, the Ministry of Health always said that it understood the need to correct the situation in which these professionals found themselves, recalling, however, that, despite this recognition, “no action was taken.” nothing effectively” to guarantee that the situation of SNS pharmacists would be corrected.
In a statement, the pharmacists stated that they had submitted a proposal, which received no response from the authorities, and said they felt discriminated against, since the Ministry of Health had committed to negotiating a new salary scale for doctors starting in January. 2025 and reached an agreement with some nurses unions.
“The SNF gave this Government space, latitude and time so that today (October 2024) these negotiations were concluded or at least about to be concluded,” he highlights.
On October 3, Henrique Reguengo stated that, Six months after the negotiations, there was no point in the list of demands presented in April that had been resolved.
The person in charge highlighted that the salary scale for pharmacists dates back to 1999 and that the nearly 1,000 who work in the SNS manage the second largest part of the Health budget and achieve, through pharmaceutical management, annual savings that “by “If only the increase would pay.”
Henrique Reguengo also said that he was surprised by the postponement of the meeting, which was scheduled for early October, stating that in the meetings “it was perfectly clear and it was assumed (…) that [o Governo] “He recognized that the situation of pharmacists was absurd (…) and that it was necessary to intervene and change quickly.”
He recalled that the union had already adjusted the initial proposal and considered that, in the absence of a counterproposal from the Ministry of Health and the postponement of the meeting, The Government shows “lack of political will”.
He recalled that pharmaceutical intervention is increasingly complex and necessary and that, in this way, the SNS will have fewer and fewer people interested in the profession, highlighting that some scholarship holders (from the pharmaceutical residency) are already leaving.
“Pharmacists, for now, have 100% employability. If they don’t come to the SNS, they will go somewhere else where they will be paid what they deserve,” he concluded.
The meeting at the Ministry of Health will take place on Thursday at 2:00 p.m..
Source: Observadora
