As the Algarve’s Regional Health Administration continues to ignore nurses’ union requests for a full and frank meeting over nurses' back pay and career progression, the government confirmed the appointment of Dr Paulo Morgado as the Algarve health region’s president, for a five year term.
Dr Paulo Morgado has been doing the job since March 1st last year, but only on an interim basis. He now has been confirmed in the post after the job was advertised and other candidates considered by the selection board at the Recruitment and Selection Committee for Public Administration.
The decision to appoint Dr Morgado has been published in Diário da República, in an order signed by the Assistant Secretary of State and Health, Fernando Manuel Ferreira Araújo so its now official.
The appointment of Dr Morgado, who for many years has been a dedicated Socialist Party member and chairman of Lagos Council, may have been made on the grounds of his managerial ability alone - and he has hadplenty of experience.
The doctor has been a Director of the Vila do Bispo Health Centre, an Executive Member of the Board of Directors of the Algarve Barlavento Hospital and Coordinator of the Personalised Health Care Unit of Lagos so he knows the Algarve well and the various problems it has when it comes to healthcare, principally: a lack of doctors and nurses who want to work here and, for those that do work here, stress brought about by overwork, poor pay and a lack of recognition and career progression.
The Portuguese Nurses' Union may not be too impressed at Dr Morgado’s current lack of engagement that has led to the nurses’ strike needlessly continuing across the region’s hospitals and health centres.
Nurses want their career progression to be unfrozen, the unfair points-based system scrapped, salaries enhanced for specialist nurses, the hiring of more nurses to take the pressure off overworked staff and the payment of thousands of hours of back pay.
The government has promised much to nurses but their union, not wishing to be fooled again, stated that it had requested a meeting "several weeks ago" with the Regional Health Administration and the Algarve Hospitals Group but, "incomprehensibly, neither institution has agreed to one so far, which could have prevented this strike."
Nationally, the nurses' strike saw 35,000 of 40,000 nurses take industrial action. The strike ends today, Friday August 17th.
