Doctors in Portugal are among the lowest paid in the European Union and their working conditions have deteriorated over the last two decades.
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00:00Doctors in Portugal have gone on a two-day strike to demand for better pay and working conditions.
00:06The strike affects surgeries and consultations which were cancelled in various regions of the country,
00:12including the capital, Lisbon.
00:14Adherence has been logged at around 70% since it began on Tuesday.
00:19When I arrived at the consultation centre, after five minutes, they told me my doctor was on strike.
00:26Among the demands made by the National Federation of Doctors are the reinstatement of the normal working week of 35 hours,
00:34the updating of the salary scale and the integration of internal doctors into the entry-level category of the medical career.
00:42There are many services at the level of paediatrics, at the level of ZOOC,
00:48namely the service of anesthesiology, which are... the corridors are empty.
00:52Medical practitioners in Portugal are among the lowest paid in the European Union.
00:58As an internal doctor, I have no doubt that I want to continue working at the SNS,
01:02but the SNS needs doctors and doctors need better working conditions,
01:06namely the salary increases that have to be discussed in their basic salary and not in these models of awards and extras.
01:15Negotiations between the doctors' unions and the country's health ministry have so far yielded no real agreement.