Pharmacists from the National Health Service (NHS) will go on strike between this Tuesday and Thursday against the negotiations with the guardianship, scheduling a meeting for the last day at the Ministry of Health, in Lisbon.
The strike, which began at midnight on Tuesday and ends at 11:59 pm on Thursday, comes after the secretariat postponed a meeting scheduled for the beginning of the month.
SUS pharmacists will go on strike between 22 and 24 October
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 were, remembering, however, that despite this recognition, “it was not done effectively anything” to ensure. that the situation of SUS pharmacists be rectified.
In a note, the pharmacists say that they had presented a proposal, but received no response from the guardianship, and say that they feel discriminated against, because the Ministry of Health has promised a new remuneration table for doctors who negotiated with effect from January 2025 and an agreement was reached with several nurses’ unions.
“The SNF gave space, latitude and time to this Government so that these negotiations were concluded today (October 2024) or at least they were about to end”, he said.
On October 3, Henrique Reguengo said, six months after the negotiations, not a single item on the list of demands presented in April had been resolved.
The person in charge pointed out that the salary scale for pharmacists goes back to 1999 and that around 1,000 who work in the SUS manage the second largest share of the Health budget and, through medication management, achieve annual savings which would “individually pay an increase”.
Henrique Reguengo also said that he was surprised when the meeting, which was scheduled for the beginning of October, was postponed, claiming that it was clear in the meetings that “it was clear and he accepted (…) that [o Governo] he recognized that the situation of the pharmacists was absurd (…) and that it was necessary to intervene and change quickly”.
He recalled that the initial proposal had already been adjusted by the union and he considered that, due to the lack of a counter-proposal from the Ministry of Health and the postponement of the meeting, Government shows “lack of political will”.
He recalled that pharmaceutical intervention is becoming more complex and necessary and, therefore, there will be fewer and fewer people interested in the profession at the SUS, pointing out that some interns (from the pharmacy residency) leave already.
“Pharmacists currently have 100% employability. If they do not come to the SUS, they will go somewhere else where they will pay what they deserve”, he said.
The meeting at the Ministry of Health will take place at 2pm on Thursday.