An order in the Official Gazette has identified the lack of doctors that is crippling the country’s National Health Service.
A list of the shortages is a prelude to opening up job opportunities for 736 hospital staff, many of whom are needed in the Algarve region, highlighted as the most deprived area of the country.
The stark survey published by the Ministry of Health shows vacancies for jobs in internal medicine, anesthesiology and psychiatry as the most urgent, with the Algarve Central Hospitals group lacking the highest number of these and other specialists.
The order, now it has been published officially, opens the door to hire doctors to work in those regions most affected by shortages, i.e. the Algarve comes first.
The order states that the government is determined urgently to minimise the patchy access to healthcare that currently exists for patients across the country but especially in the Algarve which needs 51 specialists as a priority.
In May, the Secretary of State for Health, Manuel Delgado, said "The Government and the Ministry of Health have a strong focus on the Algarve. It is an area deprived of human resources in healthcare. It is a gateway for many visitors who come to us and we know that the tourist flow this year will be record breaking - for these reasons the Algarve is a priority area."
