The government is preparing a plan for health centers in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, which could include the social, cooperative and private sectors.

In update

The Ministry of Health plans plan to improve access to primary health care in the Lisbon and Tagus region. The goal is to ensure more people get family doctors and easier access to those who don’t, Manuel Pizarro told reporters this morning.

The plan will be announced “in the coming weeks.” The health minister did not say what specific measures would be included in the final plan, but allows for the creation of Model C Family Health Units (USF-C) — in practice, primary health care institutions set up by doctors’ cooperatives or private social solidarity institutions (IPSS) and with financial and organizational autonomy.

Ministry of Health to open 28 more Model B medical centers in January

This plan already provides for the transformation in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, of 17 Type A Family Health Facility (USF) in the Type B model, the latter have greater autonomy and in which the remuneration of professionals will depend on their performance.

When he announced this transformation in an interview with SIC, Manuel Pizarro no longer closed the doors to the transformation of medical centers: it could be, he acknowledged in December, a “transitional” solution to be considered “where we can’t place civil service doctors.”