There are young interns at the Centro Hospitalar do Algarve working 24-hour shifts in the emergency room and immediately accumulating another four hours in their services. In other words, “working 28 hours in a row”.
The guarantee was given by a doctor in training in hospitals in the Algarve, who says that this is current practice, despite the law recommending shifts of a maximum of 12 hours, which can reach 18, but only "with the express authorization of the inmates".
The complaint was made directly to the president of the Southern Regional Council of the Medical Association Jaime Teixeira Mendes, on the sidelines of a reception for 149 inmates who started their duties in different health units in the Algarve in January, and was witnessed by journalists who were interviewing the director of the Order.
The inmate in question declined to be identified, adding that "there is a climate of fear" at the CHA, but consented to his testimony being made public.
The many hours that inmates are forced to work in hospitals in the Algarve were one of the topics addressed by Jaime Mendes in his opening speech, in which he razed the chairman of the Board of Directors of CHA Pedro Nunes. This is not an issue exclusive to the Algarve, but the Order ensures that it receives many complaints from doctors in training at hospitals in the region.
Also during the session, the director of Internship at CHA, present at the session, protested against the words of Jaime Teixeira Mendes, ensuring that he did not see himself in the words of the director of the Medical Association, who accused of paint a scenery that does not correspond to reality. Perhaps for this reason, the young intern made a point of staying behind and approaching the president of the Southern Regional Council, to ensure that the problems that surfaced really exist.
“I saw a lot of what I said. With regard to emergency hours, as a rule, it will be 12 hours straight. It is what is humanly and ethically best suited», he considered.
But, at CHA, as well as at other hospitals in the country, it doesn't work that way. «I witnessed this, countless times, in Internal Medicine and even in other specialties: after working 24 hours in the emergency room, my colleagues still went upstairs to see their beds, often staying another four hours. I saw this several times», assured the doctor in training at the CHA.
A reality that did not take Jaime Mendes by surprise. «We had a colleague of ours here from Faro who told us that Dr. Pedro Nunes wanted to force him to do 36 straight hours», he said.
“The problem is not the individual. As it is a medical community, if others do it, people are forced to do it. It's peer pressure», illustrated the young intern.
“This situation can lead to errors and mistakes. If truck drivers have mandatory hours to rest, doctors should also have», considered, for his part, the president of the Southern Regional Council of the Medical Association.
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