The dermatologist from the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon, who earned approximately 400,000 euros over ten Saturdays of additional work in 2024, asserts that he operated on patients who needed surgery, maintaining that he committed “no illegal acts” and did not violate any communicated rules.
“I operated on those who needed to be operated on according to the rules set by superiors, performed surgeries that are recorded with the best technical quality I was capable of, and documented the comorbidities available in patients’ records, almost entirely from observations and records of colleagues from other specialties,” assures Miguel Alpalhão.
In an interview, the doctor also denies scheduling higher value surgeries for Saturdays, calling such insinuations “fallacious.”
“I did not commit any intentional illegal acts or breach any rules communicated to me,” he states.
It is noted that Miguel Alpalhão benefited from the Integrated Management System for Surgery Candidates (SIGIC), which allows surgeries outside regular working hours to reduce waiting lists.
This system, which stipulates that “there must be a SIGIC cap that does not exceed one-third of the total surgical production,” enabled this clinician to earn more than 400,000 euros over ten Saturdays last year, averaging about 40,000 euros per day. However, one particular Saturday stood out, with earnings exceeding 51,000 euros.
The doctor was also responsible for entering data into the system to generate payments for all who participate in the additional surgeries. About this, he explains in the same interview that “the coding coordinator and auditors were aware” that he was the one coding his processes and acknowledges not knowing “any regulation prohibiting the coder from coding their processes.”
“Furthermore, I emphasize that all the processes I coded were audited by an external service auditor and all were deemed compliant. However, self-coding may not have been exclusive to Dermatology,” he reinforces.
Concerning surgery for benign lesions on his own parents, Miguel Alpalhão acknowledges having operated on “two direct relatives” who “were on the waiting list” and ended up being operated on “in due time,” but assures that he did no more or less for them than he did for other patients. In addition, he explains that even “situations that do not correspond to malignant disease can have serious consequences, requiring rapid intervention.”
According to the doctor, the “situation was explained to the head of the department, the clinical director, and the president of the Board of Directors.”
The Public Prosecutor’s Office has opened an inquiry into the case of the dermatologist who allegedly received 51,000 euros in just one day of work at the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon, as reported today by the Attorney General’s Office.
Despite the Public Prosecutor’s Office opening an investigation, as reported on May 27 by the Attorney General’s Office, and the General Inspectorate of Health Activities (IGAS) conducting another inquiry into the additional surgical activity carried out in the NHS, the doctor indicates that he has not yet been heard by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, IGAS, or the Medical Association.
Over two years, the doctor from Hospital de Santa Maria was on medical leave for almost one year.
The government has announced plans to replace SIGIC with a new model – the National Information System for Access to Consultation and Surgery (SINACC).
