The Order of Nurses states that it has been confronted, in the last 24 hours, "with an unacceptable situation, which it cannot fail to repudiate and denounce, demanding urgent measures from the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour".

"Nurses from all over the country, who were infected with covid-19 in the exercise of their functions, were faced with the lack of remuneration or significant cuts", was added.

The Order of Nurses recalls that it had already sent on 27 April a letter to the two ministries to warn of this situation.

In the letter, the order defended that “not formally recognizing covid-19 as a professional disease, making its characterization dependent on the causal link required for other diseases, is manifestly unfair, burdensome and inhumane for all those who provide health care, in particularly in an international public health emergency phase”.

"It now happens that the OE received exposures from several nurses who, testing positive for more than 50 days, have no source of income or protection", was stressed.

As an example, a couple of nurses who each received only 60 Euros of remuneration this month, referring to hours worked in previous months.

"The minimum required is that institutions safeguard the salaries of professionals infected 100 percent, in view of the enormous effort that is required of them, since we are facing a double penalty: nurses who suffer from the disease and now with cuts in their income", defends the Order.

For OE, the possibility of receiving, in the future, 65 percent or 70 percent of their salary does not presently safeguard their survival and that of their families.

“The survival of our only line of defence, those who take care of all of our lives, is at stake. It is inhumane, shameful and unacceptable”, says the vice president of the Order of Nurses, Luís Barreira, in the statement.

For nurses, "there is an urgent need to find an immediate solution, of a transitory nature and of an exceptional character", stressing that "times of emergency require emergency measures".

According to data released by the Minister of Health last Wednesday, 20 May, in Parliament, there are 3,259 infected health professionals, 480 of whom are doctors and 1,069 nurses.