Latest news and stories about healthcare in daily life in Lisboa, Portugal for expats and residents.
Emergency departments are experiencing significant wait times for urgent patients, with extreme heat identified as a contributing factor affecting vulnerable elderly individuals.
Ten years ago, Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada opened the first hospital-at-home unit. Today there are already 50 Local Health Units offering this service — a way of delivering healthcare to 400 patients receiving inpatient care outside the hospital.
Four gynaecology and obstetrics emergency departments have been closed. In Amadora‑Sintra only the gynaecology emergency department is shut; meanwhile the general emergency at Hospital Fernando Fonseca (Amadora‑Sintra) reported a three‑hour wait for patients classed as very urgent as of 20:00, according to the SNS Portal. Santa Maria recorded a two‑and‑a‑half‑hour wait for very urgent cases, and Hospital de Loures topped the waiting‑time list with around three‑hour waits for urgent patients.
The recommended time is one hour.
Portugal has 2.6 million elderly people. About 100,000 live in institutions, mostly in the Lisbon area. 90% of residents pay up to two thousand euros per month.
Multicare, the health insurance arm of the Fidelidade Group, has opened its first proprietary clinic in Portugal, a dental medicine unit located on Avenida João XXI in Lisbon. This will be the first in a network of Multicare clinics. The clinic offers routine consultations and check-ups, dentistry, endodontics, periodontology, oral surgery, implantology, dental prosthetics, and paediatric dentistry.
Between the pressure to become parents and the lack of information regarding fertility, experts argue that much needs to be improved to ensure women have the literacy and freedom to decide. A study presented this Tuesday in Lisbon indicates that seven out of ten women do not know their most fertile period. Discover the main conclusions of the event 'Talking about women's health looks good', organised by Wells, for which Expresso was a media partner.
For now, the centre is intended for adults with addiction, but the ICAD does not rule out expanding the service to other issues and age groups. The unit will operate on an outpatient basis, without inpatient care.
The Amadora-Sintra Local Health Unit (ULS) is holding a two-day 'solidarity marathon' to encourage voluntary blood donations. The initiative, taking place on June 15 and 16 at the Fernando Fonseca Hospital, aims to raise awareness about the importance of blood donation and provide extended hours for donors. This follows World Blood Donor Day on June 14. Additionally, during Lisbon's popular festivals, the GNR police force arrested 78 people and caught 264 drivers under the influence of alcohol in four hours. Meanwhile, eight districts are under a yellow weather warning for thunderstorms and showers until 9:00 PM.
To donate blood, you must be between 18 and 69 years old, weigh more than 50 kilograms, and have healthy lifestyle habits.
Loures-Odivelas and Western Lisbon are on yellow alert; São José, Santa Maria, and Amadora-Sintra are under reinforced surveillance. The National Health Service warns of risks to the elderly and chronically ill.
The APA has fired the starting gun on a conflict that promises to turn the sand into a boxing ring. Also, Moedas' stubbornness regarding the strike, the PRR being handled haphazardly, and the utopia of having a family doctor.
In Lisbon, 73% of users carried out at least one preventative action.
Protecting healthcare professionals means protecting the system itself. Violence compromises the quality of care and affects the physical and mental health of professionals.
On National Obesity Awareness Day, researchers discuss how media messages, social influence, digital contexts, and misinformation shape what we eat.
The Human Milk Bank at the Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital has collected approximately 6,700 litres of human milk since its creation in 2009, supporting an average of 240 premature newborns per year.
These constraints are felt in personal, family, and professional life. Thinking about adding associative, voluntary, and often unrecognised work to this is bold and challenging. Opinion by Ana de Carvalho Gonçalves
Not all headaches are the same. A neurologist for over 30 years, Isabel Pavão Martins deals with the most severe and debilitating ones: those that change the lives of those who experience them.
The initiative comes in a context where Portugal continues to have above-average rates regarding HIV and hepatitis. More than 50 pharmacies in Lisbon will provide free and rapid screenings.
Starting Tuesday, Egas Moniz Hospital in Lisbon is conducting free voice screenings, an initiative running until Friday to mark World Voice Day, celebrated on April 16th under the theme 'Caring for the Voice'.
The counters are expected to be available in the municipality's four parishes: Alcabideche, São Domingos de Rana, Cascais e Estoril, and Carcavelos e Parede.
Considered the most neglected global disease by The Lancet journal, sickle cell disease primarily affects people of African descent and is on the rise in Portugal. It is not rare, has no cure, but is treatable.
Statements from the key figures at the event organised by Servier to discuss the importance of treatment adherence, which featured Expresso as a media partner.
This Thursday, March 26, marks Purple Day, World Epilepsy Awareness Day. The date invites reflection on a condition still heavily marked by misinformation and stigma.
The lack of a successor for Luís Neves as Director-General of the Judiciary Police (PJ) is the main topic in the online edition of Expresso this Tuesday, March 17. It was announced on February 21 that he would replace Maria Lúcia Amaral at the Ministry of Internal Administration, and no one has been appointed to his former position yet, which the newspaper reports is causing 'perplexity' and 'concern' within the PJ. Público reports that the PJ has opened nearly 1,400 investigations into sextortion over the last two years, with the majority of victims being men. Jornal de Notícias writes that home auctions have halved in the last seven years, a decline driven by banks due to a reduction in non-performing loans. Correio da Manhã highlights that five ministers—Labour, Economy, Parliamentary Affairs, Justice, and Defence—are required to disclose their client lists to the Transparency Entity, a consequence of the Constitutional Court rejecting the Prime Minister's appeal regarding Spinumviva. CNN Portugal reports that violent WhatsApp conversations have left the school community in Oeiras concerned, involving threats such as 'You were supposed to bring the guns' and 'I'll bring the knives,' along with photos of teachers taken from Teams shared among dozens of students at Quinta do Marquês Secondary School. Diário de Notícias focuses on public transport prices in Lisbon, which are among the highest relative to income, and notes that the Western Lisbon Local Health Unit (ULS) is requiring Portuguese nationality for recruitment competitions, a practice lawyers claim is illegal. Negócios reports that REN anticipates rising energy bills due to fuel costs, with CEO Rodrigo Costa stating that while Portugal is better prepared for energy shocks than in 2022, the market escalation will likely impact gas and electricity prices.
The new permanent unit, located on Avenida da República, will allow for the screening of approximately 100 women per day, strengthening the response capacity of the screening programme in the region.
New fixed unit, located on Avenida da República, will allow for the screening of approximately 100 women per day.
