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Healthcare system, public health, medical news, and wellness updates from Portugal.

A tall blue sign reading Hospital de São João da Madeira, Centro Hospitalar de Entre o Douro e Vouga, standing in a landscaped square in front of the hospital building between trees and two s

The State Hands the São João da Madeira Hospital Back to Its Misericórdia for a Decade, With Vila do Conde, Pombal and Seia Next

Portugal has signed over the management of the São João da Madeira hospital to the local Santa Casa da Misericórdia for at least ten years from 1 November — the first public hospital returned to the social sector under this government, with Vila do Conde, Pombal and Seia next in line.

The Portugal Brief 02 Aug 2026

The Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon lit up at night, with an illuminated Santa Maria banner, a PSP police car and an emergency-vehicles-only road sign in the forecourt

Portugal Swaps Its Two-Decade-Old Surgery-List System for an AI Platform on 1 August, as Doctors Warn of a Cosmetic Fall in the Queues

On 1 August Portugal shuts down SIGIC, the 20-year-old system that managed surgical waiting lists, and moves every record to a new AI-driven platform, SINACC. The government calls it a transparency upgrade; the Ordem dos Médicos and the PS warn it could shrink the backlog on paper without treating a

The Portugal Brief 31 Jul 2026

Iced doughnuts, cherry bakewell tarts, chocolate and chocolate-chip cookies arranged around the word SUGAR spelled out in white sugar on a wooden table

Almost 40 Percent of Portuguese Children Aged 5 to 14 Carry Excess Weight, and One in Eight Is Already Obese

A new INE survey finds that close to 40 percent of Portuguese children aged five to fourteen are overweight or obese, with one in eight — around 132,000 — already obese. Nearly 45 percent regularly eat fast food, ultra-processed products or sugary drinks, and rates run highest in the Azores, the Nor

The Portugal Brief 28 Jul 2026

A yellow INEM ambulance of Portugal's National Institute of Medical Emergency responding at night on a street in Porto, blue lights flashing

INEM Plans to Transfer 54 Ambulances to Hospital Units and Convert 46 Life-Support Vehicles, and Its Unions Call It a Dismantling

INEM will move 100 vehicles out of its own fleet — 54 emergency ambulances handed to hospital units and 46 SIV life-support ambulances turned into lighter cars. Management calls it integration; the workers' committee and the STEPH union call it a dismantling, and have called an August assembly.

The Portugal Brief 27 Jul 2026

The black glass cube tower of the Instituto Superior Tecnico rising above the cream-coloured campus buildings in Lisbon, with the university's blue sign in the foreground

A Lisbon Startup's Contactless Bedside Lamp Draws €350,000 in EU Funding to Watch Over Epilepsy Through the Night

Lampsy Health, a Lisbon medtech spun out of the Instituto Superior Tecnico, has won €350,000 from the EU's European Innovation Council, taking its total funding towards €1M. Its contactless bedside lamp watches sleeping epilepsy patients for seizures; electronics and assembly are done in Portugal, a

The Portugal Brief 26 Jul 2026

Aerial view of the SNS Hospital Terras do Infante in Lagos, Portugal, part of the Centro Hospitalar Universitario do Algarve, with an ambulance parked outside

Portugal's SNS 24 Health Line Fields Over Four Million Calls by July, on Course for Its Second-Busiest Year Ever

SNS 24 has already taken more than four million calls this year, up 17%, and is heading for over seven million — its busiest year since the 2021 pandemic peak. More than half of triaged patients are steered away from hospital emergency rooms.

The Portugal Brief 24 Jul 2026

An open hand holding several assorted medication capsules and tablets against a green background

A National Patient-Registry Cleanup Threatens to Strip Family Doctors From Emigrants and Long-Absent Users

An overhaul of the SNS's National User Registry now ties family-doctor rights to three conditions — a vacancy, an 'updated' record and SNS use within five years. Emigrants and foreign residents risk losing their doctor and, without an updated record, the state co-payment on their medicines.

The Portugal Brief 24 Jul 2026

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