In its usual publication on the World Health Day (April 7), the Portuguese Statistics Institute (INE) published the most up-to-date data on the established capacity and the activity carried out by the country’s health system. Information from the INE reveals that there is a greater number of private hospitals and there is an increase in the activity of private hospitals in all areas.
INE says that “it was in the private hospital sector that this production increased the most in relation to the previous year, with 12.5% more surgeries, 10.4% more activity in emergency care, 6.9% more medical consultations and 4.3% more hospitalisations.”
- Private hospitals were responsible for more than 1.3 million emergency episodes.
- Private hospitals carried out more than 7.3 million specialty consultations.
- Private hospitals performed more than 290,000 “medium and large surgeries”
In 2018, there were 119 private hospitals (5 more than in 2017), increasing the predominance of the number of private hospitals which started in 2016. The predominance of private hospitals was comprehensive to the mainland and the Autonomous Regions (Azores and Madeira).
35,400 beds were available for immediate hospitalisation of patients (68.1% in public hospitals or in a public-private partnership and 31.9% in private hospitals).
