The organisations from all over Portugal united in a joint statement in defence of the speciality of General Practice and Family Medicine (GMF), demonstrating against a law that foresees the hiring of undifferentiated doctors to fill the shortage of family doctors.
The RENCI-MGF (National Representation of the Collective of Intern Doctors of General and Family Medicine), which represents more than 2,000 family doctors in Portugal, said in a statement that this measure "has generated great concern and indignation" among specialists.
"This law allows that, if conditions do not exist to assure the attribution of a family doctor to all users in the Groupings of Health Centres where coverage is inferior to the national average, lists of 1.900 users can be attributed to other "doctors qualified to exercise the profession autonomously". In other words, this law allows doctors without a speciality to do the work of family doctors, even without having the training to do so", they said.
RENCI-MGF said this measure was "a step back, threatening not only the quality of care provided by Primary Care, a pillar of the National Health Service, but also the quality of specialised training in General Practice and Family Medicine, discrediting the speciality, contributing to the demotivation of professionals and, consequently, to an increase in the number of users without a General Practitioner in the medium and long term".
The organisation recalled that General Practice and Family Medicine is a medical speciality recognised more than 30 years ago. To practice it in Portugal, it is necessary to follow a pathway lasting about 11 years, which begins with six years of Integrated Masters in Medicine, followed by one year of general training and another four years of specialised training in General Practice and Family Medicine.
In this sense, he said, "attributing a list of users to a doctor without a speciality is not the same as attributing a family doctor, with specialised training to provide continuity of care to the population".
"The importance and need to provide everyone with a Family Doctor is unquestionable and, for this reason, the solution to this problem cannot involve doctors without a speciality in health centres".
For the organisations, the solution lies in the creation of strategies sustained over time by the ministry of health that allows for the training and "above all, keeping family doctors in the health service, not forgetting the dialogue with all professionals who seek, in all circumstances, to provide the best care to the Portuguese population".
"Despite it being increasingly challenging to find the motivation to defend a discredited health service, we want to continue to fight for a public health system that is up to the standard that we all need and can offer," they stated in the statement.
HN/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
