This structure will have specialised equipment “which will allow 9,500 consultations and 2,500 to 2,800 surgeries to be carried out annually”.

Alcoutim City Council will provide €3,000 in financial support to the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA) to create the Reference Centre for Ophthalmology at the Hospital Terras do Infante, announced the municipality.

“Ophthalmology waiting lists are one of the biggest problems in the Algarve region, with around 10,800 patients currently on the waiting list for consultations and 1,650 patients awaiting surgery. Despite the efforts of the Faro and Portimão teams, reducing these numbers significantly has not been possible. The number of users waiting to resolve their ophthalmological situation is very worrying”, says the municipality.

CHUA’s board of directors aims to “set up a reference centre for ophthalmology at the Hospital das Terras do Infante, in Lagos. It will have a dedicated team of ophthalmologists, nurses, orthoptic technicians, administrative staff and operational assistants”.

This structure will have specialised equipment “which will allow 9,500 consultations and 2,500 to 2,800 surgeries to be carried out annually”.

“The region’s 16 municipalities will help finance the Ophthalmology Reference Centre”, says the president of the City Council, Osvaldo Gonçalves.

The mayor adds, “this strategic option translates into a solution to existing problems. The elimination of waiting times and the considerable reinforcement of excellent eye care in the Algarve are foreseen relatively quickly”.