The announcement was made to journalists by the general secretary of SIM, Jorge Roque da Cunha, at the union's headquarters in Lisbon.

According to Roque da Cunha, who was speaking on the last of the three days of the national strike by doctors from the National Health Service (SNS) called by the union, said that the proposal for a 1.6% salary increase sent yesterday morning by the Government to the unions "does not make any sense", translating into net increases of 30 to 40 euros, and even less for intern doctors.

On the other hand, according to SIM, the proposal for a new regime of full dedication to the SNS implies "highly painful conditions" for doctors, such as carrying out 300 hours of overtime.

"We don't see much of a possibility of reaching an agreement", stated the union leader, accusing the Government of being "completely insensitive".

Government and trade unions will sit down at the negotiating table again today.

"It is in the hands of the Government to avoid strikes", underlined Roque da Cunha, appealing to the guardianship "so that there is a serious negotiation", in which the SIM promises to oppose the Government's proposal.

The SIM demands, among other matters, a "decent wage".

The negotiations, whose meetings between the parties should have ended in June, started in 2022.

The Independent Doctors Union has called a strike by internal doctors for the 16th and 17th of August and strikes for all regions of the country (with the exception of Madeira, whose Regional Government has reached an agreement with the unions) which will start on the 9th and 10th of August in Center and ends on September 20th and 21st in the North.

The national strike that ends today had an adherence of around 90%, forcing the cancellation of thousands of consultations in hospitals and health centers and hundreds of surgeries, according to SIM.

The strikes called by SIM for the overtime work of family doctors and for "additional production" in hospitals continue to take place, both lasting a month, ending on the 22nd of August.