Newspaper Diário de Notícias reported that by June there were some 1,493 patients awaiting obesity surgery, many of whom had been in line for the operation for two years.
A source from the Health Ministry told the newspaper that “a specific financing programme is being studied to integrate agreements to be established with National Health Service hospitals, encouraging the resolution of these cases (...) recreating a programme that has already existed but was recently suspended.”
This will involve around two thousand patients (entailing a growth of 30 percent on 2016), and will require a budget of around €12 million a year, the State Secretary’s office added.
The newspaper reports that the programme will also see patients “assessed by a multidisciplinary team for a period never less than three years.”
Citing figures from the National Health Service’s website, DN reports that of the 20 hospitals with obesity intervention waiting lists, eight have waiting times that are over the maximum recommended 270 days for patients with normal priority.
Évora Hospital has one of the longest waiting lists, at 703 days, followed by Gaia/Espinho (326 days), Entre o Douro e Vouga Hospital (326 days), and São João Hospital in Porto (360 days).