António Costa made the statement after opening a health unit in Almargem do Bispo, in the municipality of Sintra, at a ceremony in which the local mayor, Basil Horta, and the minister of health, Marta Temido, also spoke.

At the ceremony at the first of five health centres to be inaugurated during the day in the municipalities of Sintra and neighbouring Amadora - and which are to serve a combined population of half a million people - Costa cited the goal of his Socialist government in terms of assuring nationwide primary healthcare coverage.

"Including completed works or projects, we have a hundred new interventions in health centres,” he said. “The goal was to end this parliament with one hundred percent of the Portuguese having a family doctor."

Currently, he stressed, "the competition is still open, there are many doctors and physicians applying and we will see what the final result is.

"If we can use all the funds, we will have ninety-seven percent of Portuguese with family doctors assured,” he went on. “Having made this great breakthrough … I am sure that the three percent that are missing will be quickly resolved at the beginning of the next parliament."

In his speech, the prime minister also said that his government had last week achieved the goal of having by the end of the parliament "another hundred new family health units”.