The situation in the Amadora-Sintra Surgery service is increasingly delicate. Eleven doctors (representing more than half of the team) are threatening to leave the hospital due to the return to service of two doctors who reported malpractices. Some surgeons even left the service at the end of September, the Observer found and the hospital confirmed. HE instability is already compromising the surgical response in one of the most populated areas of the country. When visiting the hospital this Monday, the Medical College expressed concern about the possible departure of eleven surgeons before the end of the month.

As the Observer learned from a source in the hospital unit, emergency surgical hours were not guaranteed on most days last week, since, at the end of September, some surgeons had already left the hospital.

There is also a record of cancellations of surgeries, including oncology, in recent days. The surgical waiting list is growing.

For the Observer, the Amadora-Sintra Local Health Unit confirms the departure of two doctors. Two of the “employment contract terminations have already been carried out”highlights the press office, which adds that there are seven others who maintain their intention to leave, and the service currently has 18 specialists (in addition to internal doctors, in training).

Without denying that surgeries are being postponed, the ULS Amadora-Sintra limits itself to stating that “there were no cancellations of surgeries related to the aforementioned situation.” Regarding the fact that the Surgery emergency service was restricted last week, the hospital simply emphasizes that, at this time, the emergency service “continues to operate.”

The president of the Southern Regional Council of the Medical Association (OM), Paulo Simões, accompanied by the treasurer, Luís Campos Pinheiro, visited the General Surgery Service this Monday, to evaluate the possibilities of contributing to a solution that overcomes the difficulties.

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Order of Doctors points out “management problem”

In statements to the Lusa agency at the end of the visit, Paulo Simões stated that the OM is “very concerned” about the dismissal of expertswhich gave a deadline until the end of this month, after the reinstatement of two surgeons who had reported poor clinical practices at the beginning of 2023.

Paulo Simões added that the OM has been monitoring this service due to “a conflict situation, at that time, between the former director of the service and part of the service.”

“At the time, the board of directors managed, and very well, to find a solution that, in essence, was a mobility of the two elements that were in conflict with the remaining elements of the service, taking them to another hospital by agreement. between the parties”, a solution allowed the service to “grow in a very satisfactory manner”.

“The current director of services managed to create the functional units he intended (…) and Everything was going very well, until there was information that the two elements that had come out in conflict intended to return to service“, which generated “a situation of great discomfort” and caused the resignation of around half of the surgeons in the service.

After pointing out that the OM does not have management or decision-making capacity, Paulo Simões observed that there is “a management problem, probably, with some legal or legal scope, that should be addressed.”

“My concern is that within a few months we will see a situation in which a service cannot respond to emergencies,” he stated, also warning of the risk of calling into question the service’s training suitability.

From what came out of the meeting, Paulo Simões said that it was the board of directors that affirmed “the inevitability of receiving these doctors in the service”, because they have an employment contract, and expressed the intention to divide the service in two”, A solution that he believes will not be well received by the doctors, nor by the director of the service, “who understands that it may be a temporary solution, but, obviously, it is not the solution.”

The hospital admits that the departure will involve a “reorganization of the care areas”

Contacted by Lusa, the management of the ULS Amadora-Sintra stated that the two general surgery specialists returned last Tuesday, since they belong to the personnel map.

According to the ULS, nine doctors submitted a letter of termination of their employment contract, admitting that their An eventual departure “will lead to a necessary reorganization of the assistance areas”.

The Board of Directors highlights that it is monitoring this situation “in close collaboration” with the Directorate of the General Surgery Service, which presented a set of measures to the Board of Directors and the doctors of the service, in order to ensure the best solution, to safeguard the interests of the institution and users.

According to Paulo Simões, the intention of the OM is, above all, to try to find “a consensus solution that does not seem to exist and that derives”, as transmitted to the order, “from years and years of ‘bullying’ and moral harassment and professional experience that many of these doctors suffered from the former director.”

He even recalled that there is a process underway in the OM, in a disciplinary council, which was initiated by service professionals against the former director, but that has not yet been decided.