The concern of Portugal's Medical Council has been awakened by a petition from 182 doctors working within the Hospitals of the Algarve group, a petition which denounced the poor conditions in the region’s hospitals and highlighted complaints from patients over shortages of materials that have led to delayed operations.
Portugal’s Medical Council has requested an audit of of the management of the Hospital of the Algarve and an investigation into claims from Pedro Nunes, the current President of the Board of Directors, about the activities of his doctors.
"We think it absolutely essential that the Minister of Health and the Inspector General of Health Activities take action and do their part as already requested in writing by the Medical Council,” said José Manuel Silva from the Medical Council, after a meeting with several doctors in the Algarve.
It has not helped the introduction of change that Pedro Nunes has resorted to his own brand of management speak, calling some doctors working for him ‘stupid’ and ‘idiots.’
José Manuel Silva said that there are problems in health services across the country due to reduced expenditure but that this has gone way beyond what was envisaged by the Troika, and that in the case of the Algarve there additionally has been "poor management of human resources."
Silva regretted the situation in the Hospitals of the Algarve Group and commented that recent events are detrimental to attracting more specialist doctors to the Algarve.
Pedro Nunes is a former head of the Medical Council so its current board will be accustomed to his particular style. The chairman of the Algarve region’s Medical Council, Ulysses Brito, said of Pedro Nunes "to resort to insulting doctors performing their duty … only reveals that he (Pedro Nunes) does not value the professionals in the institution."
If the allegations against Pedro Nunes are upheld these may be considered a violation of the medical code of ethics, and José Manuel Silva said the consequences could range from a reprimand to formal censure from the professional body.
Nunes is already under pressure from AMAL, the Algarve's association of council mayors who have called for a replacement.
The Minister of Health has so far stuck by Pedro Nunes but if Nunes's own professional body finds him guilty of breaching its code of ethics his s future in the Algarve will be shorter than he may have planned.
