MINISTER FOR Health, Correia de Campos, created a task force last week, whose remit is to define the medical care to be offered, and size and areas to be covered, by the proposed new Hospital Central do Algarve for the Parque das Cidades in Faro. The task force will be led by Rui Lourenço, president of the Administração Regional de Saúde do Algarve (ARS), the Algarve’s regional health authority.
As well as discussing the proposed new hospital, which, according to the ARS, will replace the current Faro Hospital, the task force will have the job of proposing an alternative use for the buildings currently occupied by the hospital in Faro.
In May of this year, following a study undertaken by the Escola de Gestão do Porto, it was revealed that a new hospital with around 550 beds, the Hospital Central do Algarve, would be created from scratch. At that time, Correia de Campos placed the Hospital Central do Algarve in second place on the priority list of new hospitals to be built in Portugal and, during a visit to the Algarve on July 10, reiterated this, saying that the project would be launched next year.
However, the study in May also recommended that, if the hospital was not meant as a replacement for the health units that already existed in the area, it would not be justified.
