LISBON CÂMARA intends to set up health insurance for every child born in the capital whose parents are resident in Lisbon.
The expenses of the health insurance would totally be met by the municipal authority. The proposal is to be presented at the next full meeting of câmara executive officers in March.
Should it be approved, the measure would be introduced for all children born in Lisbon as of January 1, 2008.
“This project is part of a social-political project that aims to give incentives to the young people of Lisbon to stay in the city, which, in turn, is so vitally necessary to keep Lisbon commercially competitive and viable,” said Lisbon Mayor Carmona Rodrigues.
“We want to assume a predominate role in policies aimed at helping the family,” added Rodrigues saying that the Lisbon health card would function as any other normal health insurance document.
The card would also grant the Lisbon citizen free access to the various sport and cultural facilities available in the city.
The propensity for the native Lisbon population becoming predominately old, coupled with a low birth rate, has been worrying Lisbon Câmara and its mayor for some time because it was a contradiction in terms when Lisbon had the largest university population in Portugal without the conditions to keep them there once they had graduated.
This latest socio-political initiative is also part of a wider package of measures including providing first-time buy properties in Lisbon for more affordable prices.
According to the latest statistics provided by the National Institute for Statistics (INE) 5,668 babies were born in Lisbon in 2004.
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