“Attempted murder.” Minister of Health admits to suing president of the workers association

At issue are the statements by Nuno Figueiredo, who described the new incompatibility regime for working doctors as an “attempted murder” of the inhabitants of the interior.

The government admits to suing the president of the Association of Doctors Providers of Service (AMPS), who last week classified the incompatibilities regime as “an attempted murder” of the interior populations.

In an interview with the podcast Politics with Signature, on Antena 1, the Minister of Health considered that the statement by the president of AMPS, Nuno Figueiredo e Sousa “It’s enormously serious” and “the Government will require a legal analysis for intervention, if applicable”.

Ana Paula Martins said that the health professional in question “is committing perjurystating something that he cannot prove” because he “does not know the approved legislation”.

Nuno Figueiredo and Sousa’s statements followed the approval, by the Council of Ministers, of the incompatibilities regime for so-called duty doctors.

Ana Paula Martins also said that the doctor “should be prudent, from an ethical point of view”, and “take responsibility and not panic”.

In the minister’s opinion, Nuno Figueiredo and Sousa’s statements are “hugely serious”.

“I admit suing, yes ma’am. You cannot accuse a Government of murder without these statements being highly scrutinized and highly evaluated”, he highlighted.

Ana Paula Martins stated that the Government will not let these statements “go unnoticed” and added: “Perhaps what the Portuguese need to know (…) is that this president, a doctor, but I don’t know if he represents doctors or if he represents companies, is protecting a business that in 2025 [lucrou] 249 million euros, to the detriment of an organized solution for providing healthcare to the Portuguese”.

As the minister explained last week, after the Council of Ministers meeting, the approved regime provides that, in order to hire working doctors, “there must be a need”, not preventing the provision of services by non-specialists, but “under some type of conditions”.

The service provision regime also includes several incompatibilities, said Ana Paula Martins, pointing out the example of doctors who are already part of the SUS and who are not available to work more overtime than the 250 hour limits provided for by law.

At the end of 2025, doctors known as tarefeiros created an association to contest measures by the Ministry of Health to limit the use of these professionalseven admitting the possibility of paralyzing emergency services, which did not happen.

Last year, the National Health Service (SNS) spent around 250 million euros with the hiring of doctors on duty, the majority to ensure emergency shifts, an increase of 17.3% compared to 2024.