Doctors and the Regional Government are preparing to begin the revision of the Convention, which will affect consultation prices, but for now, no one wants to rush in and create panic values. Meetings may begin later this month, and the President of the Medical Council of Madeira of the Medical Association hopes that an agreement will be reached by the end of this year.
The Convention is the basic instrument for the operationalisation of the principle of complementarity between the public sector and private medicine in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, to finance health expenses for users of the Regional Health Service of the Region. The review involves all facets of the agreement, including updating the prices charged for consultations and examinations.
On the sidelines of a conference on “Sustainability of the Health System,” at the headquarters of the Order, Gil Bebiano, President of the Medical Council of Madeira, said that the process of revision of the Convention is at the point where a team of negotiators will be appointed to agree on a way forward. There is, for now, optimism on the part of doctors for “a more or less broad consensus.”
The head of the doctors admits that people will pay a little more for consultations and examinations, but believes that a “fair solution” will be found because the Region’s contribution “will also be greater.”
Gil Bebiano refused to throw into the discussion any value, and even admitted that he should not have talked about values – he even advanced 70 euros, per consultation, like the Azores – in the past.
The Regional Secretary for Health understands the need to update prices after they’d been frozen for the past twelve years, but Pedro Ramos refused to be drawn into how much the Regional Government will contribute.
“We know that prices have changed and so have procedures. There are new procedures, new techniques, and all these values will have to be spoken of in another way,” said Pedro Ramos, admitting that different solutions may emerge from the discussion.
“The Convention doesn’t have to be like it has been until now. The Convention may be something different and may have other variants. And we’re going to start the talks to see what we can introduce again. Madeira has always been a pioneer in all these discussions,” he said.
For the negotiations, Pedro Ramos said that “inflation will be taken into account” – “7%” – being “a basic principle for a starting point.” But a “pioneering” solution may emerge during negotiations that avoid the 7% increase for all procedures, since they “vary from specialty to specialty, and perhaps should not have the same price.”
“What the Government will try to do, is to find a model of remuneration that is both financially possible for the citizen and the Regional Government.”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
