A FORMAL request has been made by the Minister for Health, Correia de Campos, to Loulé Câmara to allow the construction of the University of Medicine of the Algarve next to the Algarve Stadium. An agreement should be made within the next month.
Attended by Rui Lourenço, president of the regional health authority, and Macário Correia, president of the Área Metropolitana do Algarve, a meeting was held to announce the construction plans for the Algarve Central Hospital. The intention is that the University of Medicine of the Algarve, located on the grounds of Parque das Cidades, will eventually be affiliated with the Algarve Central Hospital.
To accommodate the university, the Loulé Municipalities Association, the body in charge of development decisions on this area of land, may have to alter the charter that was drawn up when the Algarve Stadium was first built. The charter agreed that development would only be made if it benefited the community, but did not specify a university campus. The charter also discouraged the use of private construction companies in Parque das Cidades.
Construction on the medical university could begin as soon as the end of next year. Rui Lourenço will be in charge of the construction as well as the hospital project. At the beginning of next year, national and international companies will be able to begin bidding for the contract. Rui Lourenço told The Resident he estimates that the hospital will open in 2012.
The medical university, which will be the first in the region and the 10th in Portugal, will offer students four-year courses in different fields of medicine. There are currently 1,347 places to study medicine throughout the country, 102 more than last year and the Ministry of Health is keen to increase the number of undergraduates and graduates studying medicine in Portugal further. The University of Medicine of the Algarve could create as many as 150 new places for medical students.
