Following a walkabout of the hospital on Tuesday, Dr. Guimarães said investment in the Algarve’s hospitals is a priority.
He told the press he found “important shortcomings” with the Faro unit’s emergency ward, and also highlighted a “general shortage of doctors”, which affects the hospital as a whole.
He said the government “must pay attention to the National Health Service’s ability to cater for a region which, as well as tourism and international visibility, also has a very strong private health sector.”
The president of Portugal’s Doctors’ Register also slammed the Prime Minister’s move to give tax breaks to emigrants, saying the same incentives should be applied to keep doctors from emigrating from the Algarve.
Dr. Miguel Guimarães’ comments came after Prime Minister António Costa said that citizens who had moved abroad between 2011 and 2015 and who returned home between 2019 and 2020 would be given tax breaks.