Azores awards supplement to medical trainers

The medical supervisors in the Azores will receive a monthly supplement of 200 euros, and an exclusivity regime will be created within the Regional Health Service, the Minister of Health told Lusa news agency on Wednesday.

According to the Regional Secretary for Health and Social Security, Mónica Seidi, the supplement is a "demand from the unions" that has been implemented "in a phased manner over time, so that it approaches the value established nationally for integrated responsibility centers and training in the field of general and family medicine."

Mónica Seidi, who met this Wednesday in Angra do Heroísmo, on Terceira Island, with the Southern Zone Doctors' Union and the Independent Doctors' Union, also stated that, "in addition to the supplement to be paid monthly, in installments, the training supervisor, based on the number of interns under their responsibility, has hours allocated to that same activity," thus valuing "their role."

According to the governor, the issue of doctors wishing to work exclusively in the Regional Health Service was another topic discussed at the meeting with the union, noting that "this possibility has not been given in recent years," since the full-time dedication regime does not require it.

"In order to make a medical career more attractive in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, we will have a differentiating system that does not exist at the national level, nor in the Autonomous Region of Madeira," he stated.

Thus, he added, the intention is to work with the unions next year to create a system that brings "some justice to workers," but which "will not be implemented all at once for the entire professional class."

In a statement, the Southern Zone Doctors' Union announced that "the progress made at today's negotiation meeting will allow doctors to join the full-time dedication regime and receive a supplement for training supervisors."

Doctors who choose to work exclusively in the Azores Regional Health Service “will receive an attractive salary increase to encourage them to stay in the public sector,” with the €200 supplement for training supervisors considered “an important step” in a “valuation that will be updated annually and will begin in the first months of 2026, with retroactive effect from January,” reads the union's statement.