Panel: Justice prohibits doctors from the municipal network of SP from going on strike

In an injunction this Tuesday (18), the vice president of the São Paulo Court of Justice, Guilherme Gonçalves Strenger, prohibited PHC (Primary Health Care) Doctors, who work in basic units in São Paulo, from entering on strike on Wednesday (19), as they had decided in assembly.

The decision was taken at the request of Ricardo Nunes (MDB) management.

In an assembly held hours after the publication of the decision, Simesp, the union of the category, decided to suspend the strike, but maintain a demonstration in front of the headquarters of the Municipality of SP, scheduled for 3 pm this Wednesday.

The magistrate wrote in his decision that, at this moment, “the strike of municipal doctors would appear to be abusive”, since the stoppage of health services in the city, even if partial, could “cause irreparable damage or difficult to repair to citizens, even lead them to death due to lack of care.”

He notes that, although the strike is a social right guaranteed by the Constitution, the current scenario, with the Covid-19 pandemic and the spread of the influenza virus, is one of “extreme exceptionality”, with overloaded hospitals, high occupancy rates and queues of patients waiting for care.

Strenger then determined, in the decision, a daily fine of R$ 600 thousand to Simesp if a stoppage occurs. He also scheduled a conciliation hearing between the Municipality of SP and the union for January 27, to be held through a virtual platform.

“It’s an important decision, it guarantees health services for the population at a time of pressure on the network. We are starting to vaccinate children. With that, the city hall’s effort will be to provide the best service to the population, guaranteeing the care”, says Edson Aparecido, SP Health Secretary.

In their demands for the strike, health professionals argue that the teams are exhausted, there are endless working hours, demands for goals, lack of supplies and overcrowded health units. They also complain about non-payment of overtime.

The situation has worsened in recent weeks with the advance of the ômicron variant and the influenza epidemic, which led to the dismissal of about 1,600 municipal health workers, an increase of 111% compared to the beginning of December.

“Since the Court defined an abusive fine, we decided to interrupt the stoppage. What I find interesting is that the measures to stop the stoppage that indicated a lack of professionals were very agile. Unfortunately, the measures to guarantee the hiring of professionals are not so agile”, says Victor Vilela Dourado, president of the union, about what was defined in the union assembly.

Dourado says that the union will question the choice of January 27 for the conciliation hearing.

“We are saying that there is an urgent need to hire professionals to ensure that the population is served. Measures to stop the strike take place within 24 hours, but the meeting to discuss the hiring of professionals can wait more than a week. the logic behind it”, adds Dourado.