Healthcare system, hospitals, and medical services in Portugal.
Portugal's government faces a defining decision on whether to hand management of five major public hospitals to private operators, as the April 2026 deadline for the ACSS feasibility study arrives. The hospitals serve millions of patients across greater Lisbon and Braga.
The Liga dos Bombeiros Portugueses — the national body representing Portugal's 464 volunteer fire brigades — is preparing to terminate its cooperation agreement with the country's emergency medical institute, INEM, after four months of unpaid...
The dermatology teams of Lisbon's Hospital Santa Maria — the largest public hospital in Portugal — have been ordered to return more than EUR 800,000 paid to them for surgeries performed outside of regular working hours. The decision, announced on...
Porto's Judicial Police estimates that half of the €505 million the SNS spent subsidising diabetes drugs between 2020 and 2025 was diverted to off-label weight-loss prescriptions — a fraud concentrated in Ozempic that Lisbon only closed by regulation in February 2026.
Portugal’s Serviço Nacional de Saúde spent EUR 266.8 million on outsourced medical and nursing staff last year, a 15.6 per cent increase over the previous year and nearly 30 per cent more than in 2023, according to data from the Administração...
The obstetrics and gynaecology emergency department at Hospital do Barreiro will close permanently on Wednesday 15 April, ending decades of maternity services at one of the Setúbal Peninsula's most important hospitals. The closure takes effect...
How Portugal's public health service works for residents: who can use it, what you pay, prescriptions, private insurance, and what to do in an emergency.
