Dr Pedro Larisma, a consultant psychiatrist at Faro Hospital, part of the Hospitals of the Algarve Group, started a hunger strike at 08.00hrs this morning in protest against the deceptive and cursory treatment he has received from the Hospital management, headed by Director Dr Pedro Nunes, over payments he has been owed for 2 years.
Standing opposite the busy hospital exit, Dr Larisma’s banner highlights the fact that he is still waiting for payment for work done in 2012. Interminable arguing and deliberate quibbling over contracts and overtime has ensured the Hospital’s management so far has had Larisma’s services for free.
Family man Dr Larisma worked in the UK’s National Health System for 14 years in Glasgow but says he never encountered such unfair delaying tactics that have ensured under the new Directorship of Pedro Nunes, that Larisma has accumulated arrears over 8 months, nearly €20,000 is due, and this has been going on for around 2 years.
In 2008 Larisma moved with his wife and family to the Algarve to bring his skills and experience to Faro Hospital and in 2011 signed an amended contract to work a certain amount of hours for the Hospital, leaving him sufficient time to develop his private practice, as many doctors do.
This arrangement is of the type that the new Director for the Algarve Hospitals Group detests and when Dr Pedro Nunes assumed command in 2012 he did not authorise the continuation of Larisma’s series of 6 month contracts, but was happy to see him continue to work without a contract in place. This later enabled management to claim that payments were not due as there was no contract in place, a position that only last week was agreed by hpspital management to be fallacious. When pushed, Dr Nunes characteristically became angry, saying that the fact there is no contract was ‘nothing to do with him.’
Dr Larisma is now on a 20 day hunger strike over the remainder of the arrears owed to him, some having been paid when he threatened to mount this individual action to highlight his position and claim.
Dr Larisma has tried to negotiate his payments by using his lawyer but still there is money owed which he can not afford to walk away from. A further worry is that at the end of March the situation will pass the 2 year mark when his claim may become invalid under law.
The management is now questioning his hours for the first time, two years after his timesheets were signed off in what Larisma sees as a further deliberate attempt to delay matters further.
The campaigning Doctor will remain opposite the exit of Faro’s hospital for 20 days, or until he loses 20 kilogrammes in weight. His car (pictured) is parked opposite his makeshift command post and this is where he will sleep for the next three weeks.
This action is a further embarrassment to the Director of the Hospitals of the Algarve Group, Dr Pedro Nunes, who appears deliberately to have delayed due payment to a senior member of his staff. By not signing a contract, while encouraging Dr Larisma to continue his work, Nunes has tried to get professional services with little intention of paying for them in full and certainly not in a timely manner.
Dr Larisma’s 4 children will be coming to see their dad from time to time. Their reactions are diverse, one is delighted at her father’s stance and another is totally embarrassed. If there is any embarassment it should be from Dr Pedro Nunes.
