A former CEO of the SNS state health system worked a total of 408 hours in A&E surgery at Faro Hospital last month; of those hours 132 were logged as having been one continuous shift (during the week February 16-22) – meaning that he ostensibly worked from the moment he arrived at the hospital on the Monday, right through to the Saturday when he returned to his home ‘up north’. Sources from the hospital have assured that the specialist was “less time in service” than billed, but no one is elaborating further.
Correio da Manhã tabloid brings this news today – giving some of the context: this particular doctor left his position at the executive directorate of the SNS health service in January 2025 (he was appointed eight months previously) under a cloud. An investigation by SIC Notícias found that he had been ‘illegally accumulating functions’, by working two salaried positions within the public sector at the same time.
It later transpired that ‘accumulating functions’ is something quite typical in the SNS health service. It was only considered illegal in the case of António Gandra d’Almeida because he was appointed to such an exclusive position (CEO of the second tier of command under the Ministry of Health) – at a time when the problems within the health service were of such a scale that it looked bad that he had been ostensibly ‘playing the system’ – notwithstanding the fact that his expertise was needed.
When the Gandra d’Almeida ‘scandal’ first started being aired, ‘experts’ and commentators suggested that he might have been made to repay some of the €200,000 or so that he had allegedly ‘illegally accumulated’. That doesn’t appear to have been the case: he resigned, and is now back to working as ‘an agency surgeon’ in the Algarve.
The type of contract that Gandra d’Almeida is on costs the SNS health service roughly €59,000 a day, writes CM.
Of course, Gandra d’Almeida (and the others on contracts like his) will not be ‘taking home’ €59,000 a day – but the story serves to explain why doctors (and nurses) who do work exclusively for the SNS health service are so outraged by the way HR, and consequently the country’s hospitals, are being managed.
Not surprisingly, CM writes that Gandra d’Almeida did not answer the paper’s attempt to make contact.
Source: Correio da Manhã
