«When I leave Faro, I know that most of the staff at Centro Hospitalar de Algarve will have good things to say about me. In fact, there are many who have transmitted this to me, knowing that my term is over», assures the chairman of the Board of Directors of CHA Pedro Nunes.
The person responsible for the management of the Algarve's hospitals uses this example to defend himself against criticisms made to him by the president of the Southern Regional Council of the Medical Association Jaime Mendes, which he claims are "lies" launched "with a political agenda of some sort".
"I'm leaving. It's a matter of days before someone is named to replace me. Now, I don't admit that they tell lies about me and defame me», said Pedro Nunes, to Sul Informação.
At issue is the speech given by Jaime Mendes at a reception that the Ordem dos Médicos (OM) prepared for the 149 inmates who started working this month in the Algarve's health units, where he launched strong criticisms of the CHA administrator. is still concerned the complaint made by an intern that there are young doctors in training working 24-hour shifts in the emergency room and accumulating four more hours in their services., reinforced by the same responsible for the OM.
“I've never forced anyone to work 24-hour shifts, that's a lie. As a matter of fact, with regard to the inmates, it was me, as President of the Order, and my counterparts in Spain who managed to get the European Union to extend the general regime to inmates, which prevents them from working more than 48 hours a week,” he assured . This is, by the way, a hot topic in other countries, namely in England, where, according to Pedro Nunes, “the administrations want to force them to work three and more 24-hour shifts” a week.
In the specific case of inmates, he assures, there are very strict rules in the CHA. "Our policy is that inmates can only work shifts of 18 hours a week in the emergency room, or 9 plus 9 hours, and never at night, if they don't want to," he assured. This is during the week, since at the weekend the maximum limit rises to 11 hours, more precisely, two shifts with this workload (at most), which may include nights.
«The Administration does not make the shifts and does not send anyone to take consecutive shifts. What can sometimes happen is that the intern himself asks to do the two shifts in a row, as a matter of personal convenience. So, instead of wasting two weekends, he concentrates everything on one and is free the next. But this is decided between the doctor and the clinical direction of the service», assured Pedro Nunes.
In other words, according to the president of the CHA, at the limit, there may be inmates working 22 hours, but only because they have requested it expressly and with their full consent. As for the 28 hours that a CHA intern said he saw colleagues in training to do, Pedro Nunes says he has no indication of that, but it doesn't surprise him.
“I see many of my colleagues doing what I was also doing: after their shift in the emergency room, they go to see their patients at their respective services. They don't have to, but I'm glad they do. Going to see the patients themselves in the ward is usual and a good practice», he defended.
“Medicine is not a profession from 9 am to 17 pm. Since good doctors always do this, it is one of the ethical rules of the profession. My congratulations to those who do it, but nobody is obliged», added the chairman of the Board of Directors of the CHA.
Another accusation that is refuted is the existence of "a climate of fear" and an atmosphere of tension. “Anyone who says this should point to a disciplinary process that is, that indicates that this climate exists. If there's one thing that hospitals in the Algarve don't have, it's a tense atmosphere. People say what they understand and there are no examples of reprisals for crime of opinion», further claimed Pedro Nunes.
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