“It is more profitable to do physiotherapy days after surgery than two or three months later”, said the president, António Lopes, in an interview with Lusa news agency, regarding the "12th National Congress of Physiotherapists", which will be held on the 8th and 9th of May.

The director highlighted that it is common for patients to not have access to physiotherapy after surgery and only receive care three months later in the private sector.

“At that time, the consequences had already set in and it was no longer possible to overcome them,” said the president, lamenting that money was being spent without seeing results.

The leader said that the order is not against the private sector, but stressed that it is important to have physiotherapy units in the SNS, so that it is possible to meet the needs of patients more immediately.

Antônio Lopes pointed out that it is necessary to include physiotherapists in primary health care teams.

"In the Algarve Local Health Unit (ULS), there are 30 physiotherapists in primary health care, but there are other ULS that have none or few", he indicated.

When asked about the number of physiotherapists that the SNS should have, the president said that it should be the majority of professionals registered with the order, which number 13,406, of which only 1,500 work in the SNS.

António Lopes highlighted that the number of physiotherapists in the SNS is lower than the European Union average: according to Eurostat, the EU has 137,000 physiotherapists per 100,000 inhabitants while Portugal has 110.

The creation of physiotherapy services and units in the Unified Health System (SUS) will be one of the themes of the National Congress of Physiotherapists, which will have around 500 participants.