The Azores government wants to strengthen overtime pay for medical work in the emergency and permanent care services of the Regional Health Service (SRS), having already finalized legislation in this regard, it became known this Thursday.
At the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores, the Regional Secretary of Health, Clelio Meneses, presented in plenary a proposal for a regional legislative decree, explaining that the intention of the executive branch of the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition is to “strengthen the remuneration of doctors” by the SRS
The document was based on a PAN recommendation approved by the Parliament of the Azores and calculates additional medical work “based on the cost of the first paid position of a senior assistant, with a maximum limit of 50 euros per hour, except where the basic remuneration is superior.”
Clelio Menezes recalled that “a lot of SRS in terms of emergency services” is based “on service delivery”.
In 2021, for example, 198,000 hours of emergency services were provided under this regime, corresponding to “a financial effort of eight million euros,” he added.
The submitted document, which is still undergoing public comment, says that “almost a decade” has passed since the current regime came into force.
The proposal specifies that “the performance of additional medical work within the regional health service is not subject to any maximum restrictions when the relevant provision is necessary for the operation of emergency or ongoing care services.”
This work, the proposal says, “is even increased from the legal limit in physical presence and doubled in prevention mode.”
“Additional medical work should only be carried out when absolutely and urgently necessary for the operation of emergency services and only when all alternatives to normal working hours, as well as legal overtime hours between doctors who are part of the scale, have been exhausted. . services”, is noted in the diploma.
Health care workers who “regardless of kinship and mode of work perform additional work in the emergency department or in emergency or permanent care services are entitled to an hourly wage supplement.”
“There can be no loss of remuneration for medical professionals, and the payment of the hourly value of the corresponding base wage in excess of the established allowances must be maintained,” it is stated.
The proposed regime “has a mandatory character, prevails over any other special or exceptional rules to the contrary, as well as over the instruments of regulation of collective labor and labor contracts, and cannot be canceled or modified by them.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
