Edna Gonçalves was speaking to Lusa about the criticisms made on Tuesday by the Portuguese Association of Palliative Care (APCP), which said that the country needs from 800 to 1,000 beds, a figure that the commission has refuted, explaining that the figures were based on international data that include units mostly funded by the private sector, which Portugal does not have.

“The beds provided by the association are palliative care beds and private units funded by sponsorship and private insurance, which in Portugal do not exist,” she said.

“Hence the strategic plan foresees 40 to 50 beds per million inhabitants, considering only the palliative care units in acute cases, which must exist in hospitals.”

She said that in total, the plan expects 391 to 491 beds by the end of 2020.

Gonçalves said that the proposal for the plan provides for mobile palliative care teams, moving to where the patient is and working with other teams that accompany the patient regularly.

Gonçalves recognised the difficulty of hiring physicians to work exclusively in these teams, also due to the lack of a career of palliative care doctors.

“We are working to achieve a solution,” she said, mentioning the creation of a career.