“By the end of the year, a new regime of agreements with family doctors will be initiated to address those who still do not have a family doctor,” stated Ana Paula Martins, who is being heard this afternoon in the Parliamentary Health Committee.
The official informed the deputies that, in addition to the future model C units, which will be managed by the social and private sectors, the new regime of agreements will constitute “another way of expanding general and family medicine coverage to those most in need.”
“We still have much to do in primary health care to effectively make it the entry point to the NHS, especially to keep pace with one of the biggest demographic shocks ever in the Portuguese population,” the minister acknowledged.
Ana Paula Martins indicated that the coverage rate of patients with a family doctor is currently at 85.7%, “counteracting the decreasing trend of the last four years.”
Between April 2024 and August 2025, an additional 326,000 patients gained access to a family doctor, the Minister of Health noted, adding that due to demographic changes over the past seven years, the “resident foreign population has almost quadrupled.”
In this context, the number of people registered and using the National Health Service at least once increased from 405,000 in 2017 to over 944,000 in 2024, Ana Paula Martins reported.
During the regimental hearing, the official also highlighted that after the last “winter went well” in terms of emergency services, the summer plan “also went smoothly,” noting that from June 1 to the end of August, there was an overall reduction of 41% in the number of days emergency services were closed.
On August 15, traditionally considered “the worst day of the year” due to healthcare professionals’ vacations and being a holiday, 2024 recorded “13 obstetric emergencies with issues,” compared to eight in August 2025, the minister mentioned.
