Paediatrician Maria do Céu Machado resigned this week as clinical director of Lisbon’s (in)famous Santa Maria Hospital.
News reports all stressed the non-personal nature of her decision – simply saying that she had said her position was no longer “sustainable”, given the conjuncture of the barrack-like hospital.
Only Correio da Manhã hinted at real details – and these boil down to the nitty-gritty of saving lives.
“On the same day that she resigned, Maria do Céu Machado authorised the treatment of around 50 patients for Hepatitis C, with sufosbuvir” (a revolutionary new drug).
“This decision represents a cost of between €2.5m-4.8m,” continues CM.
“Each treatment lasts between 12 and 24 weeks and costs between €48,000 and €90,000.”
The specialist in children’s medicine, who will be staying on at the hospital as director of Pediatrics, told CM that “all patients with liver disease deserve to be treated with the same (life-saving) drug”.
“The youngest patients, who aren’t in a serious condition, should have access to this medication,” she told CM.
“It should not just be for the people in a more serious condition, complying with international criteria, because otherwise, when they are treated, they will already have liver cirrhosis”.
It remains to be seen which patients the outgoing clinical director has signalled for treatment.
No other newspapers even mentioned this aspect to Maria do Céu Machado’s resignation – only 20 months after she took over at the hospital.
All that we know is that the requests for treatment will now be submitted to Santa Maria’s administrative board. They will then need to get the green-light from the national medication authority.
Contacted by CM, the administrative council of Santa Maria’s health authority is reported to have refused to comment.
