The Local Health Unit (ULS) of Algarve denied on Thursday that it had prohibited its workers from attending the Medicine course at the University of Algarve, arguing that the statements by the president of the Board of Directors, Tiago Botelho, were taken out of the context in which they were made. The position comes in response to a question from the Socialist Party parliamentary group, which had questioned the Minister of Health about an alleged decision by the ULS to prevent workers from maintaining their employment link while attending the course.
According to ULS Algarve, the reference to the incompatibility of attending the course with professional activity results exclusively from a concern for the academic success of students and the management of available human resources, and not from any deliberation or internal guidance that prohibits workers from attending the medical training. The institution clarified that attending a higher education course is not considered a situation of accumulation of functions, so there is no institutional decision that conditions or prevents attendance of the course.
ULS Algarve considered the attendance of the course by professionals already integrated into the institution to be positive, as it represents an opportunity for future reinforcement of the number of doctors in the region, and stated that it has been available for these students to collaborate through the provision of services on a part-time basis, avoiding occupying permanent job positions needed to hire new professionals.
The Portuguese Nurses' Union (SEP) accused Tiago Botelho of "arrogance," noting that the official knew he was committing an illegality when he stated that the administration had decided not to approve accumulations of functions. The SEP recalled that, although the president retreated from his initial statements, what remains is what underlies them.
