ANPL in a meeting with the Dental Medicine Professional Order

ANPL presents its initiatives to OMD.

Continuing a program of meetings with some professional orders and other representative structures of professions and liberal professionals, ANPL met with Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas (OMD) on June 26th at the latter’s headquarters in Porto.

The meeting aimed to share ideas and projects with OMD, as well as the ambition to contribute to helping liberal professionals, dentists, to be properly heard and recognized within Portuguese society and the European market, reinforcing their initiatives aimed at mitigating the trend of proletarianization and remuneration degradation of these professionals and the lack of social support they often face. These problems affect many liberal professionals in Portugal country and distort the regular functioning of the market.

It should be noted that OMD, like all professional orders, is prohibited by law from participating in activities of a trade union nature or related to the regulation of economic or professional relationships of its members. However, an important part of the challenges and problems affecting liberal professionals are precisely related to these “prohibited areas,” such as employment modalities, salary issues, fees, and tax matters. On the other hand, labor law in Portugal does not provide for liberal professionals to establish or join unions of liberal professionals, unlike what happens in other European Union countries.

This omission also contributes to the social void resulting from leaving hundreds of thousands of liberal professionals without a voice, depriving them of social protection commensurate with their professional value and falling short of the effort made in terms of contributions to Social Security.

At the end of the meeting, Orlando Monteiro da Silva, accompanied by Artur Miler, also a dentist, commented: “ANPL appreciates the fruitful meeting and prospects for future collaboration. In Portugal, we see liberal professionals without representation and full defense of their interests in economic, fiscal, and social protection aspects. If there is an area where Portugal diverges from the European Union, this is perhaps one of the most serious and socially negative impacts.

Dentists, like doctors, veterinarians, lawyers, architects, and other regulated professions, are also liberal professionals, justifying the need for joint structured work in many areas of these two aspects: regulation and the liberal profession.

I believe that ANPL can help defend the interests of dentists regarding the taxation applicable to their activity, which is suffocating, and aspects related to social protection, illness, maternity and parenthood, underemployment, and retirement conditions, among others, in which dentists are highly unprotected and vulnerable. We have found a President, Bastonário,  Miguel Pavão, with an open mind regarding our organization. Together, we will be stronger,” he added.

ANPL will hold its 1st Forum on September 23rd in Porto.

In the photograph, from left to right, Orlando Monteiro da Silva, Miguel Pavão and Artur Miler.