Not only among the laziest people in Europe (according to latest statistics – see story LINK here), the Portuguese are also consuming an “excessive” amount of pills and potions – particularly antibiotics and antidepressants.
According to health minister Paulo Macedo, every month pill-popping Portuguese consume around 20 million packets of meds. In 2013, seven million more packets were used than the year before – and, not surprisingly, Macedo says the situation is getting out of control.
“This level of consumption is not normal,” he told a parliamentary commission this week.
Psychiatrist Caldas de Almeida told Correio da Manhã that the crisis was more than likely to be contributing to the problem, but even so, Portugal’s dependence on antidepressants is a major issue. Women, particularly, are hooked, he said, and Portugal is now one of the European countries consuming the highest levels of antidepressants.
Another issue discussed by Macedo was his plan to increase the number of family doctors available by hiring medics from abroad and bringing retired GPs back into service.
