Lisbon City Hall will invest 41 million euros by 2027 in new health center infrastructures in the capital, Mayor Carlos Moedas announced today at the inauguration of the new Ajuda Health Unit.
Carlos Moedas(PSD) considered that “the investment that Lisbon City Council is making in the health area is a historic investment”, through which the municipality is doing its part in the necessary contribution of all sectors to the enhancement of the National Health Service (SNS).
Moedas pointed out that, since the current executive took office in October 2021, Lisbon City Council has invested more than 21 million euros in five health centers, including the new Ajuda Health Unit, which was inaugurated today.
“By 2027 we’re going to invest another 41 million [euros] in health centers. So it’s a very large investment, it’s what I call the ‘local welfare state’, in which the city council invests in infrastructure,” he said.
Alongside the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, Moedas stressed that the municipalities, which have been given powers by the central administration in the area of health, have “the role of complementing what is the basis of the system”, which everyone has to defend, which is the SNS.
“This is a very, very, very long-term job, because we’ve been investing in health for many years, but in this executive we’ve already invested more than 20 million and we’re going to invest more than 40 million, so that’s 60 million over these years,” he reiterated.
With the decentralization of competence from the central administration to the municipalities, the municipalities are responsible for health infrastructures, although the clinical work remains the responsibility of the Ministry of Health.
The new Ajuda Health Unit, in Calçada da Boa Hora, replaces the old health center, which operated in a residential building, without adequate conditions, and represented an investment of around 2.4 million euros, co-financed by PT2020, to serve more than 15,000 peoples.
