The secretary general of the Independent Doctors Union (SIM) today called on surgeons at Hospital Amadora-Sintra to avoid destroying the Surgery Service, considering that “it is already at the limit”.
Jorge Roque da Cunha’s appeal comes after it was disclosed that more than a dozen surgeons at Fernando da Fonseca hospital (Amadora-Sintra) have informed that they do not intend to do more than the overtime provided by law and some have even advanced with requests for termination, so as not to work with the doctors who filed the complaints of violation of good medical practices (‘leges artis’), all of them filed, and who return to work in August.
The whistleblowing doctors have been given a 90-day suspension by the hospital as part of disciplinary proceedings and, once completed, the surgeons will return to duty, which is scheduled for August 14.
Roque da Cunha said that SIM “is doing everything” to prevent the hospital’s Surgery Service, which “is already at its limit”, from being destroyed by the departure of surgeons, having met with the service director and some of the remaining doctors.
The allegations – made by the former service director and another surgeon – were revealed by the Express earlier this year and date back to 2022 and were eventually dismissed.
There was a single case that raised doubts with the experts of the Portuguese Medical Association, a situation that led the hospital to express its intention to proceed with disciplinary proceedings against the doctors involved in that surgery, which did not happen.
Following the complaints, the Public Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation and the Health Regulatory Authority also opened an investigation.
