Health and Safety in Portugal

The health structure of Portugal is systematized around an NHS (National Health Service) with several duties assigned to regional bodies. The Ministry of Health manages the NHS. According to the Constitution, the NHS is “universal, comprehensive and approximately free of charge”. The Portuguese NHS institutes the right of every citizen to health protection. Generally, patients in Portugal take part in health care financing through co-payments and co-insurance. For specific health services provided by NHS facilities, the patient pays a fixed amount per use.

About 10% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was spent to health care in 2004 which exceeds the EU average. In terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), Portugal’s health care expenditure was 1813 in the same year that is below the EU standard of 2269. In 2005, the total number of physicians is 36,138; there are approximately 34 doctors for every 10,000 Portuguese. On the same year, dentistry personnel reached 6,1,49 with about 6 for every 10,000 citizens.

For the past decades, the health system of Portugal has undergone several changes. Various undertakings have been adopted to develop further the functions of the health system. In 2002, the following measures were implemented: alteration of NHS hospital organization; PPPs (public-private partnership) for new hospitals; liberalization of prices and access to the pharmaceutical market; classification of national health plan among others.