After causing several reactions in Portugal, Manuel Heitor’s interview with News diary this week has also generated an international response. The Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education stated that the level of training in family medicine in the United Kingdom is less demanding than in other specialties. The British Medical Association (British Medical Association, in Portuguese) disagrees with the views of Manuel Haytor and reacts to site official.
“It is completely wrong to describe UK family medicine education as less demanding than other medical specialties. [opinião] it offends our highly trained family doctors working throughout the country. ” write this british association, in a note signed by Samira Anane, in charge of family medicine.
The British Medical Association also recalls that family doctors must go through several stages in order to practice medicine, within the framework of training that lasts at least five years – excluding years of theoretical training.
In an interview with News diaryManuel Heitor argued that it is not necessary to have “the same level” and “length of training” as “an oncologist or mental health professional” to train an experienced family doctor. “If you go to the United Kingdom, the system is diverse, especially when it comes to family medicine, which is less demanding than specialist doctors,” said the Minister of Higher Education.
These statements did not like the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF), which considered the minister’s statements “deeply disrespectful” and even asked the Minister of Health to hear about this.
The interview also highlighted the government’s intention to expand the offer of medical training, with the minister hoping to open new medical courses at the universities of Aveiro, Vila Real and Evora within the next two years. An idea worthy of the attention of Fausto Pinto, Director of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon. “Medical education in Portugal does not involve opening new schools or increasing vacancies, because that will not solve the problem of the perceived shortage of doctors in any way,” he began in a statement to Lusa. “Teaching medicine is not the same as mathematics, and perhaps the minister does not understand this,” he concluded.
In 2020, the Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education already mentioned that the retention of vacancies for medical courses clearly indicates the need to make training in this area available in other institutions, public or private.
The medical forum, which brings together representatives of this professional class, has already demanded a “public apology” from the Minister of Higher Education.
