April 7 was World Health Day and this year the World Health Organization launched the motto “Building a fairer, healthier world” and, even in a time when COVID19 prevails, private hospitals are fully aligned to create more and better health conditions. To reach this goal, the private hospital sector invests and, step by step, establishes itself as one of the pillars of the health system.
With regard to World Health Day, the Portuguese National Statistics Institute (INE) published the most recent data on care activity in Portugal and the conclusions are unequivocal as far as the evolution of Portuguese private hospitals in the last two decades are concerned:
– The number of hospital beds increased by more than 3 000 beds, which was an essential contribution to ensuring the country’s hospital response:
– Reinforcement of the relative weight of the private sector in terms of medical consultations (from 15.6% to 37.3%)
– Reinforcement of the relative weight of the private sector in terms of surgeries (from 22.4% to 29.8%)
– Reinforcement of the relative weight of the private sector in terms of hospitalizations (from 15.3% to 24.1%)
– Reinforcement of the relative weight of the private sector in terms of emergency care (from 4.2% to 17.3%).
For World Health Day, the Portuguese Association of Private Hospitals (APHP) would like to acknowledge and congratulate all health professionals in Portugal an in all of Europe, and all those who, in their various initiatives and activities, spare no effort to improve the health conditions of all citizens. You can always count on the engagement and availability of the private hospital sector.
