The country’s severe lack of family doctors – which sees over a million nationals without cover – is to be tackled this summer, Secretary of State for Health Manuel Delgado has announced.
Talking to reporters during a visit to Portalegre Hospital in the Alentejo, Delgado said: “The good news is we have a new wave of GPs that will be ending their training in June.”
Thus a “significant number” will be hired by September.
Without revealing numbers, Delgado said the plan is to reinforce public hospitals and health centres throughout the country.
In December, Visão magazine stressed that the Algarve was one of the areas most blighted by the lack of GPs. Over 23% of people are without one, it claimed.
Lusa news agency wrote two months later that Portugal needs “over 600 family doctors” to ensure adequate cover.
