Doctors strike in Portugal for better working conditions and pay

Doctors in Portugal are among the lowest paid in the European Union and their working conditions have deteriorated over the last two decades.

Transcript

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.