Two nurses in two Porto hospitals have been “forced to prove they are breastfeeding” in order to benefit from a licence that allows them to work reduced hours. The reason, writes Público, is that Porto’s Hospital de São João has discovered that half the licences awarded recently have been “fraudulent”. Nevertheless, the two nurses have complained of “bullying” saying they felt their rights had been “completely violated”.
The shameful story has been picked up by other national papers and centres on the ruling that any nurse breastfeeding after her child is a year old has to produce a doctor’s note to this effect, and can then claim two hours off the normal working day to either breastfeed directly, or express milk into bottles.
What the ruling does not say is that nurses have to prove they “have milk” by expressing it in front of occupational health officials.
