The complaints and reports received by the Portuguese Medical Association (OM), which are forwarded to the three Regional Disciplinary Councils of the Portuguese Medical Association (North, Centre and South), initiating a process, have been increasing year after year. In 2021, the OM received 1,338 complaints, a number that rose to 1,682 in 2022, and to 2,027 in 2023, representing an average of 5.5 complaints per day, reveal the data, which show an increase of 20.51% in 2023 compared to 2022, and 51.49% compared to 2021. Regarding convictions with a penalty of suspension or expulsion, the data indicate that 13 doctors were convicted in 2023, 15 less than in 2022 (28) and 09 less than in 2021 (22). In statements to the Lusa agency, the president of the OM, Carlos Cortes, pointed out as the main reasons for this increase in complaints the fact that there are more doctors and the problems of the National Health Service (SNS). "Firstly, there is a natural reason, due to the increase in the number of doctors", said the president, explaining that every year 2,000 to 2,500 professionals register with the OM. The problems of the SNS also have an impact on the complaints filed: "Very often, doctors are the ones who take the blame and, even though most of the situations reported are not directly related to doctors, the dissatisfaction of patients, their families, and their companions in relation to the system" translates into a complaint against the professional they find in the services. As problems of the SNS, he pointed out the waiting time in emergency services, the waiting time for consultations, surgeries and the degradation of the service facilities. On the other hand, users are more informed and demand more quality, better care and faster responses in health, he stressed. Despite the fact that there were more complaints, these were not accompanied by disciplinary decisions, which, according to the president, proves that many of these complaints "are not serious" and "are not directly related to doctors", but rather to the system. On the other hand, he said, "we cannot ignore" that many of the proceedings were filed with the presidential amnesty in the context of the World Youth Day in Portugal, in August 2023. The president announced that the OM has created a mediation and arbitration centre to resolve situations considered non-serious, in order to avoid "all the difficulties that may occur if the process follows the disciplinary path", which can only occur by mutual agreement between both parties. He explained that the OM will propose to the accused doctors and to those who filed the complaint that they deal with the situation through conflict mediation, "in order to avoid delays, the costs themselves and the complexity of disciplinary proceedings", but also so as not to overload the disciplinary body of the OM, which needs to "dedicate itself to issues of greater technical complexity". "The Portuguese Medical Association is making a major commitment to the issue of disciplinary regulation and I am aware of the role that the OM has in this matter and I want to reinforce it from the doctor's perspective, but above all from the citizen's perspective", giving them the full rights they have to be able to have quality health and in which the doctor can contribute. The OM already has a complaints channel, where people can send their complaint directly, by email, but it is creating a website from scratch, which should be ready by the summer, which will also allow citizens to file their complaint, either identified or anonymously. It has also developed a set of mechanisms to provide the best possible response, namely the computerisation of "everything that is a disciplinary process to make it easier to handle" and standardisation between the various regional sections (North, South and Centre), each of which has a disciplinary council. The OM will also develop a set of training courses for doctors to be prepared to respond to the demands of users and "avoid some of the complaints that have existed". Read Also: Demissão de Fernando Araújo era expectável, diz bastonário dos Médicos (Portuguese version)