Igas opens inquiry after doctor receives 51 thousand euros on a work day at the Santa Maria Hospital

The General Inspection of Health Activities (IGAS) opened, on Monday, an inquiry into the additional surgical activity performed at the NHS, following the case of the dermatologist who will have received more than 50 thousand euros on a single working day at the Santa Maria Hospital.

The inquiry emerges a few days after CNN Portugal revealed that a dermatologist at Santa Maria Hospital would have received a total of 400,000 euros for 10 additional Saturdays in 2024, and one of the days was used to remove benign lesions to their parents.

At stake is the Integrated Surgery Management System for Surgery (Sigic), which allows for procedures outside work hours, to help reduce waiting lines in hospitals.

In the statement, Igas confirms that the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Local Unit of Santa Maria, Carlos Martins, reported the existence of “an occurrence related to any irregular action in the dermatology service of that entity, within the scope of the surgical activity system performed in additional production”.

Igas also determined the establishment of “an audit process at the 39 local health units and the three Portuguese oncology institutes, with the involvement of their internal audit services”.

The objective of the audit is, according to that entity, to evaluate the use of surgical activity performed in additional production compared to normal activity.