Lisbon, Dec. 3, 2024 (Lusa) - The director of the Paediatrics Department at Santa Maria Hospital said on Tuesday that the request for an appointment for the Portuguese-Brazilian twins in 2019 was made on behalf of former Secretary of State Lacerda Sales.
"The beginning of my involvement in this process was following a contact with the personal secretary [Carla Silva] of the Secretary of State [Deputy and Health], who contacted me first by phone and then by email, requesting a neuropediatric appointment and a clinical assessment for two children," said Ana Isabel Lopes, after being questioned by Livre MP Paulo Muacho.
The clinical director told the parliamentary committee investigating the twins' case that “the information provided by Carla Silva was that she was doing so on behalf of the Secretary of State” António Lacerda Sales and that she had no doubts about the request from the former member of the PS government: “Absolutely, that was my interpretation.”
However, Ana Isabel Lopes acknowledged that "no mention was made" of Lacerda Sales and that she didn't enquire whether it was the former Socialist government member who had asked for the appointment: "I received an email that I interpreted as institutional and it seemed credible to me".
"It was exceptional. In 40 years of service, I had never had a request of this nature. I considered it atypical," she clarified, saying that she had to contact her superior, Luís Pinheiro (former clinical director of Santa Maria Hospital), due to the “great vulnerability” of the children's situation, the “importance of responding” and also because she didn't feel comfortable with the situation.
Ana Isabel Lopes said she had sent a message to Luís Pinheiro, mentioning a request for appointments for two children, and then forwarded Carla Silva's communication.
"The clinical director's advice was to respond positively to the request, in the sense of authorising the appointment," she said.
André Ventura, from Chega, requested that these communications be sent to the commission of inquiry.
The doctor also said there were no waiting lists "due to the nature of the pathology".
"There is no waiting list. The time counted to respond to care," she said.
Ana Isabel Lopes said that she had never spoken to or been contacted by any member of the government or the Presidency of the Republic.
In response to the PSD, the director indicated that the treatment of the two Portuguese-Brazilian children with one of the most expensive medicines in the world was validated by the Board of Directors of Santa Maria Hospital.
"The whole process of placing the indication, approval and validation went through the Board of Directors, the institutional process requires it," she said.
She pointed out that the Ministry of Health bears the cost of this treatment and that the cost of Zolgensma "reduced significantly" after the renegotiation with Infarmed, now totalling €1.2 million, compared to €2 million when the twins received the treatment in 2020.
The director of Paediatrics at Santa Maria also said that at the time, she didn't hear any references to the children being treated like "the President's girls" in that hospital and considered this type of comment "very unedifying".
Questioned by the PS, Ana Isabel Lopes classified the work of the neuropediatrician who accompanied the girls, Teresa Moreno, as exemplary, and said that "no child was left untreated", indicating that "there was no waiting list".
Ana Isabel Lopes denied any imposition of clinical decisions and also insisted that Teresa Moreno book the twins' first appointment, saying that she didn't see any “pertinence or need” for this.
The official also told IL MP Joana Cordeiro that "at no time" Teresa Moreno expressed "disagreement with the scheduling of the appointments" or the treatment she prescribed.
Speaking to Chega, the director of Paediatrics confirmed what had been said moments before, at the hearing of neuropediatrician Ana Sofia Moreira Sá, that the children did not go through a screening process before their first appointment.
JML/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
