Multi-use health certificates under renovation. Ombudsman welcomes extension of validity until end 2021

The Ombudsman welcomes the extension until 31 December 2021 of the validity periods for medical certificates of multipurpose incapacity that are in the process of being renewed or should be renewed by the end of 2020. This extension was operated by Decree-Law 99/2020 of 22 November for access to social, economic and fiscal benefits.

This solution meets the concerns set out in the Ombudsman’s Recommendation addressed to the Government in mid-June. It was then proposed, as a balancing act in the face of the impossibility of a timely response by the State, that the validity of the attestations be considered extended until the effective holding of a medical board. The solution now accepted makes it possible to give a similar response to all situations that see their outcome during the next calendar year, and it is to be hoped that, at that time, due attention can be paid to cases that may still be pending.

It is hoped that, in this way, the work of the existing medical boards will be focused for the time being on the other situations, the evaluation required for the first time, and it is hoped that the proposal also contained in the above Recommendation for the adoption of a more unbureaucratic mechanism for the examination of cases of applicants diagnosed with oncological pathology can also be complied with soon.