Getting Free Transport to Hospital Appointments in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You have a long course of treatment, such as dialysis, chemotherapy, or rehabilitation, and cannot travel alone.
• You are on a low income and a health condition makes buses or driving unsafe for you.
• You care for a parent or child who needs an ambulance or adapted car for appointments.

Not for you if: someone needs help right now. Read "What to Do in a Medical Emergency in Portugal".

The national health service (SNS) can pay for a non-urgent ambulance or patient car to take you to appointments, treatment, and tests. It also covers the trip home after a hospital stay or a visit to A&E.

You always need a prescription from an SNS doctor. Long courses of treatment, such as dialysis or cancer care, are covered whatever your income. Otherwise you need a qualifying health condition and a household income of no more than €805.70 a month per person in 2026. The income check is free and takes about 10 working days.

What the SNS pays for

The service is called non-urgent patient transport (transporte não urgente de doentes). It covers trips linked to your care, where one end of the trip is an SNS hospital or health centre, or a private or charity provider with an SNS agreement. The law lists these trips:

• to a consultation, an inpatient stay, day surgery, treatment, or tests;
• home after you leave hospital, or after a visit to the emergency department.

You travel in one of two kinds of vehicle. An ambulance is for people who are bedridden, need isolation, use a wheelchair because they cannot walk on their own, or cannot find their way or move around the street safely alone. Everyone else who qualifies travels in a vehicle dedicated to patient transport (VDTD), usually shared with other patients.

Route 1: long treatment, whatever your income

The SNS pays for your transport, with no income test, if you need care that is long and continuous. The law names these cases:

• chronic kidney failure, including peritoneal dialysis or haemodialysis at home;
• rehabilitation in the acute phase after one of the conditions listed under Route 2, for up to 120 days;
• cancer treatment and transplant care;
• lifelong rehabilitation if you have a motor disability of 60% or more;
• palliative care given by the national palliative care network teams;
• other cases your doctor justifies, approved one by one by the SNS body that pays.

The doctor writes one prescription for the whole course. One health unit explains that this route is for a series of planned sessions. A one-off consultation, a single test, or a trip home after discharge does not count.

Route 2: a health condition and a low income

If you do not fit Route 1, you need two things at once: a health reason and a low household income. One without the other is not enough.

The health reasons the law accepts are:

• a disability of 60% or more;
• movement problems after a stroke or other vascular disease;
• a transplant, when the transplant hospital says so;
• severe heart or lung failure;
• serious sight problems;
• orthopaedic, neuromuscular, or psychiatric illness;
• cancer, burns, or chronic kidney failure;
• a high-risk pregnancy;
• an infectious disease that puts public health at risk;
• cerebral palsy or a similar neurological condition affecting movement;
• a child with a life-limiting or life-threatening illness.

If you rely on the 60% disability, you also need the multipurpose disability certificate (atestado médico de incapacidade multiuso). Read "Getting a Disability Certificate (Atestado Multiusos) in Portugal".

Physiotherapy under this route is paid for up to 120 days. Your doctor can ask for more time, and the paying SNS body decides case by case.

The income test

The SNS calls a low income "economic insufficiency" (insuficiência económica). In 2026 your household qualifies if its average monthly income is €805.70 or less per person. That is 1.5 times the social support index (IAS), which is €537.13 in 2026, so the limit changes each year.

To work it out:

1. Add up the gross yearly income of everyone in your household.
2. Divide by the number of people.
3. Divide by 12.

Your household is everyone on the same income tax (IRS) return.

Example: a couple on one tax return earns €18,000 a year in total. That is €9,000 each, or €750 a month. They are under the limit.

How to prove your income

You prove a low income by asking for the user fee exemption for economic insufficiency. The same status counts for transport. It is free.

Online: you need an SNS user number and the Chave Móvel Digital, your Citizen Card, or your SNS 24 login.

1. Log in to the personal area of the SNS 24 portal.
2. Choose "Documentos e Certificados", then "Taxas Moderadoras".
3. On the "Pedido" tab, choose "Pedir isenção".
4. Fill in the form. You give your tax number (NIF) and those of your household.

In person: go to your health centre, an Espaço Cidadão that offers the service, or a Balcão SNS 24. Take your identity document and those of your household. If you have no Citizen Card, take your SNS user number, NIF, and social security number (NISS).

The answer takes about 10 working days. You can check it in the SNS 24 personal area. You do not need a paper certificate, and you do not renew it. The SNS checks it again every year by 30 September, using the income you declared to the tax office. If your situation changes, make a new request.

Some people are exempt from user fees for other reasons, such as blood donors or firefighters. That exemption does not give free transport. For transport, the SNS looks only at your health and your income.

If you are not yet registered, read "Registering with the SNS in Portugal" first.

How to get the transport

1. Ask the doctor who sends you for care. Only an SNS doctor can prescribe the transport, and the doctor records the clinical reason in your file. The service that asks for your appointment or test issues the transport voucher (credencial) and pays for it.
2. For a first hospital appointment, your family doctor at the health centre makes the request. If another SNS hospital referred you, a doctor there makes it.
3. For follow-up appointments, ask at each appointment for the transport to the next one. One health unit asks you to hand the request in at its patient transport desk (Unidade de Transporte de Doentes).
4. For tests and scans, tell the transport desk the dates and places as soon as you know them, so it can book the trips.

Expect to share the vehicle. The law tells the SNS to group patients going the same way, to the same area, at the same time. The vehicle may go up to 10 km or 30 minutes out of its way to collect others. An ambulance just for you needs a reasoned note from your doctor.

Bringing someone with you

A companion can travel with you when the doctor says you need one. The law gives these examples:

• you are under 18;
• you receive the supplement for permanent help from another person;
• you have a profound intellectual disability or severe cognitive problems;
• you are completely deaf;
• you have lost more than 80% of your sight, even with aids.

When the SNS does not pay

The SNS does not pay for non-urgent transport:

• after an accident at work or for an occupational disease;
• if a health subsystem or another body is responsible for your costs (an SNS doctor can still prescribe the trip, but you or that body pay);
• to go to a medical board (junta médica), for example for your disability certificate;
• if you have no clinical reason, even on a low income.

In that last case, if money is the problem, one health unit suggests asking your council (câmara municipal) or parish council (junta de freguesia) for help.

Dialysis on holiday

If you have dialysis and will be away from home, tell your local health unit (ULS) where you will be and for how long. It contacts the health unit where you are staying, which arranges the trips to the nearest dialysis centre. Your home unit still pays.

Surgery in another hospital

If you get a surgery voucher (vale cirurgia) because the wait is too long, you keep free transport only if you choose a hospital on the list you received. You also lose it if you choose one outside your area when a suitable hospital exists nearer home. One health unit pays for three round trips before surgery and the trip there on the day. The new hospital pays for the rest.

If you are refused

Transport is only paid when an SNS doctor records a clinical reason, so start with your doctor. Ask which reason the doctor used, and whether you fit Route 1, which has no income test.

Then check your income status in the SNS 24 personal area. If your income has dropped, or your tax return does not show your real household, make a new exemption request.

If your physiotherapy reaches 120 days, your doctor can ask for an extension. The SNS body that pays decides case by case.

For help on trains, metros, and buses, read "Using Public Transport with Reduced Mobility in Portugal". If you look after a relative, read "Becoming a Recognised Informal Carer in Portugal".

This guide is general information, not medical or legal advice. Your doctor and the SNS decide each case.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

• Diário da República, Portaria n.º 142-B/2012, de 15 de maio, consolidated text (last amended by Portaria n.º 165/2022): trips covered, ambulance and VDTD, conditions with economic insufficiency, prolonged care without an income test, 120 days of physiotherapy, proof by an SNS doctor and the multipurpose certificate, grouped transport and the 10 km or 30 minute detour, individual ambulance, companion, who pays, exclusions (Portuguese only; income test by reference to Decreto-Lei n.º 113/2011, article 6)
• gov.pt (Administração Central do Sistema de Saúde), Pedir a isenção de taxas moderadoras por insuficiência económica (updated 8 September 2026): €805.70 limit, IAS €537.13, how to calculate household income, IRS household, online and in-person steps, documents, free, 10 working days, yearly review by 30 September, new request on change (Portuguese only; legal basis Decreto-Lei n.º 113/2011, de 29 de novembro)
• Administração Central do Sistema de Saúde, Transporte não urgente de doentes, perguntas frequentes (6 January 2017): user fee exemption does not give transport by itself, subsystem patients, dialysis away from home (Portuguese only; hosted by ULS de Santa Maria)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Em que condições é que um utente tem direito a transporte não urgente (both conditions needed; ask the council or parish without a clinical reason) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Sem insuficiência económica, posso ter isenção de encargos com transporte não urgente (prolonged care only, not one-off acts) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, É necessária requisição médica (prescription by an SNS doctor) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Qual a entidade que deve emitir a credencial de transporte (the requesting service issues it) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Como devo proceder para solicitar o transporte para a 1.ª consulta hospitalar (family doctor or referring hospital) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Quando devo pedir a requisição de transporte para as consultas subsequentes (ask at the previous appointment, transport desk) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Como obter transporte para realização de MCDT (tell the desk the dates of tests) (Portuguese only)
• ULS do Tâmega e Sousa, Recebi um vale cirurgia e escolhi ser operado noutro hospital (surgery voucher: list and area rule, three pre-surgery trips and the trip on the day) (Portuguese only)

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.