"It was necessary to have some element of primary health care, namely a family doctor, in that group, and there isn't", lamented Nuno Jacinto.

Questioned by Lusa about the priorities that the plan should define at the level of primary health care, he replied that the focus on human resources is the most urgent.

"Here I'm not just talking about doctors (...) I'm talking about doctors, nurses, clinical secretaries, but also the other professionals that we need, such as social workers, psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists. Many of them are lacking in many parts of the country and we need this to give confidence to the teams and to be able to do what we set out to do", he said.

Secondly in the list of priorities in primary care, the president of the APMGF pointed out autonomy, stressing: "We need to focus on the autonomy, with responsibility, of the teams".

"When I say with responsibility and obviously commit the teams to certain objectives, as they are already used to, (...) we also don't need to be utopian and touch on all areas, but establish a commitment in three, four or five fundamental areas and put the teams, who know better than anyone the needs of the population they serve, to work (...), giving them the autonomy to manage the resources they have available", explained Nuno Jacinto.

If it were possible to respond in these two areas -- human resources and autonomy -- in his opinion it would be possible to improve the response of primary health care, which would also have an impact on hospitals.

"Obviously this would have an impact at the level of hospital care, but it would also make professionals more satisfied, more motivated", he added.

The Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, announced during last Wednesday's fortnightly debate, in the Assembly of the Republic, that he will present the emergency programme for health within two weeks.

According to him, this plan will have a special focus on the recovery of surgeries, obstetrics and responses in the field of family medicine.

"Within two weeks at the most, the country will know the emergency programme we have for health. It will have an impact on the recovery of waiting times for surgeries, particularly the most problematic ones -- for example, oncological ones. It will have a special focus on obstetrics and a family medicine response plan for about 1.5 million Portuguese people without a family doctor", he specified.

The group of 13 people who are preparing this plan is coordinated by the former president of Infarmed Eurico Castro Alves, a graduate in Medicine from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto and a PhD in Medicine from ICBAS - Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences.

In addition to Eurico Castro Alves, the group includes, among others, Alberto Caldas Afonso, a paediatrician and director of the Northern Maternal and Child Centre; António Marques, a full professor and anaesthesiologist who was responsible for the Management Commission of the Ministry of Health's Plan for World Youth Day; Catarina Baptista, a hospital administrator who was a member of the previous administration led by Ana Paula Martins at the head of the Hospital de Santa Maria, and João Gouveia, director of the Central Emergency Service of the ULS de Santa Maria.

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