Cancer patients in the Algarve will have the possibility of being treated entirely in the region in 2026, according to a proposal put forward yesterday, by the Mayor of Loulé.
The mayor made a presentation together with the president of the Algarve Local Health Unit (ULS), Tiago Botelho, and the president of the Algarve Academic Center for Biomedical Research and Training (ABC), Pedro Castelo Branco, for the proposal of purchasing new equipment.
“Given the controversy, Loulé City Council is seeking to propose a solution, so that the Algarve can equip itself with the equipment for cancer patients” to be treated in the region, without needing to travel to Lisbon or Seville, said Vítor Aleixo at a press conference.
The three entities have agreed to install a building in Loulé where diagnostic equipment will be installed to perform positron emission tomography (PET) scans.
The new unit will start operating in mid-2026 with an investment of 3.5 million euros, 60% financed by European funds (Portugal2030) and 40% by Loulé City Council.
The local authority thus decided to abandon the previous project to change the Detailed Plan for Parque das Cidades and the construction of the Southern Reference Oncology Center (CORS), which should have been installed by the end of 2024.
“The previous project had several vicissitudes and what this management found was a land without viability: there was no land, no project”, said the president of ULS Algarve, Tiago Botelho.
The urban planning department of the municipality of Loulé had rejected the construction of CORS in January, claiming that the project exceeded the limit of the area of the plot made available for its construction and did not respect the stipulated green areas.
ULS Algarve guarantees, with its ABC, “the implementation of all conditions for carrying out all PET scans in the region in the new equipment until the future Algarve Central Hospital begins operating”.
For its part, ABC states that it already has an established partnership with the Institute of Nuclear Sciences Applied to Health (ICNAS), in Coimbra, which will “facilitate” the operation of the new equipment.
The organisation also ensures the functioning of the PET, namely its human resources.
This equipment will make it possible to carry out around 2,000 exams per year, which until now were carried out in Lisbon and Seville (Spain).
According to figures given at the press conference, the Algarve currently treats 95% of all oncological cases in the region.
“The most important thing is that people will stop having to travel from one place to another, what matters is the comfort of patients,” said Vítor Aleixo.
The building that will house the PET will be built on the land where the ABC Genetics Laboratory will be located, on Rua Humberto Pacheco, in Loulé.
Source https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/ - photo by ULS Algarve
