Ana Paula Martins said at the press conference to present the Emergency and Transformation Plan in Health that a decree-law was generally approved that opens more than 900 vacancies for family doctors across the country, adding that in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo there are 400 vacancies alone.

The minister said that it is necessary to listen to the unions representing doctors on this matter, but she highlighted the importance of attracting these professionals to model B health centers, to join the teams.

The 900 vacancies are almost 40% above the vacancies for new specialists, she said, explaining that the fact that there are “so many vacancies this year” is due to them being distributed across the country.

“We wanted to give all general and family medicine doctors the opportunity to choose exactly the areas where they want to settle to carry out their life project”, she said, adding that these vacancies can also attract some doctors who, for various reasons, left the SNS and that “they can now see attraction in these new health centers, which have very different remuneration conditions”.

Despite this number of vacancies, the minister considered that there are still “not enough”, and for this reason, there is a pool of contracted doctors that already has “plenty available”, in addition to agreements established with the social sector.

Asked whether the fact that many doctors have already exceeded the limit of 150 overtime hours could hinder the implementation of the plan, the minister said that the Government is creating an incentive system that “has some similarities with some systems” that already existed, namely an additional payment after a certain volume of hours.

“We cannot force people to work more hours than they feel capable of, but if they have the desire and if they have the possibility” “other innovative ways” of being able to pay them are being studied, she said, announcing that in the coming weeks, they will have a solution to present to doctors and nurses, who are “a different situation, but who are also part of the teams”.