Summoned by the National Union of Pharmacists (SNF), the protest of these health professionals starts today with a national strike and includes two stoppages on September 5th and 12th by districts, which will culminate in a new strike across the country scheduled for the 19th of that month.

The union, which regrets that the Ministry of Health “remains silent and without expressing any intention of starting a serious negotiation process”, called for 10:30 am today a concentration of pharmacists next to the São Bento Palace, the prime minister's official residence.

Among the demands of the SNF is the updating of salary scales, the full counting of service time for promotion and career progression, the adequacy of the number of pharmacists to the needs of the public service and the recognition by the Ministry of Health of the title of specialist.

Also, today begins the month-long strike for overtime work by family doctors, convened by the Independent Doctors Union, which admits that this protest will affect tens of thousands of consultations in health centres.

This stoppage is part of a series of strikes that SIM recently announced to protest the absence of concrete proposals from the Government in the negotiations on salary scales and career enhancement that have been taking place since 2022 without an agreement.

In addition to this overtime stoppage, the union has scheduled another nationwide doctors' strike, which will take place between Tuesday and Thursday.