Health

Available topics

• National Health Service
• Access to the Portuguese Health System
• National Health Service Card
• Health Centres
• European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)
• Further Useful Information

National Health Service (NHS)

The Constitution of the Portuguese Republic establishes that all citizens are entitled to receive global health care. The public health system is under the supervision of the National Health Service (Serviço Nacional de Saúde – SNS), which depends of the Ministry of Health.

Services provided by the National Health Service (NHS) include:

• promotion and monitoring of health care and disease prevention;
• health care for both general practice and specialisation;
• nursing care;
• hospitalisation;
• supplementary diagnostic tests;
• medicines and pharmaceutical products;
• prosthetics and other complementary therapeutic devices.

Access to the Portuguese Health System

All foreigners who are on Portuguese territory and who feel ill or need any kind of health care have the right to be attended in a Health Centre or in a Hospital (in case of emergency) without these services having the right to refuse to treat them on the basis of any reason connected with nationality, lack of economic means, lack of legal status or any other.

Accordingly, foreign researchers who are legally residing in Portugal have equal treatment in the access to health services and prescription drugs. For doing so, they need to obtain in a Health Centre a National Health Service Card which is given to foreign citizens who hold a permanent residence authorisation or a residence permit or a work visa. In case they don’t pay for social security, they have to pay for their treatments.

European researchers who are registered in a health/social security system of the EU Member States, European Economic Area or Switzerland have access to health care under the same conditions as nationals (European Health Insurance Card).

The same applies to researchers of third countries that have signed a bilateral agreement with Portugal, covering the protection in case of illness and maternity, such as:

• Andorra
• Brazil
• Cape Verde
• Morocco
• United Kingdom.

All foreign researchers have access to health care under the same terms as the general population, in the following situations:

• urgent and vital health care;
• transmissible diseases that pose a danger or threat to the public health (e.g. tuberculosis or AIDS);
• maternal and child health care and reproductive health care, namely access to family planning consultations, voluntary interruption of pregnancy, monitoring of women during pregnancy, delivery and puerperium and health care provided to newborns;
• health care provided to minors residing in Portugal under the terms set forth in Decree-Law No. 67/2004, of 25 March;
• vaccination, according to the National Vaccination Programme in force;
• family members of foreign researchers present in Portugal for the purpose of family reunification when researchers make duly documented contributions to the Social Security System.

National Health Service Card

The National Health Service Card is a document that proves the identity of its holder to the institutions and services that form part of the NHS. It is issued free of charge.

It must be presented for:

• health care treatment;
• arranging doctor’s appointment, supplementary diagnostic and therapeutic services;
• prescribing and obtaining medication.

How to obtain the National Health Service Card

This card can be obtained in the Health Centre in your area of residence or in a Citizen’s Shop (in portuguese).

Foreign researchers must show documentation proving their permanent residence authorisation or residence permit or work visa authorising them to work in Portugal to the health services in their area of residence.

Payment for the services provided

Foreign researchers are subject to the same principles and standards that apply to the general population in matters of payment and exemption from patient co-payment fees under the terms of the legislation in force. Payment depends on their Social Security (in portuguese) status.

Foreigners who pay for social security

In accordance with the legislation in force, health care services are tendentiously free, taking into account the economic and social conditions of the user. For each consultation or service provided, the user must pay a fee (taxa moderadora) that may vary between 1,50€ e 5,00€.

The following are exempt from payment:

• children 12 years old or younger;
• young people when attending an adolescent consultation;
• pregnant women;
• women in puerperium (the period of 8 first weeks following childbirth);
• women receiving family planning services;
• unemployed persons who are registered in an Employment Centre (Centro de Emprego) and their dependants;
• individuals who receive official benefits due to economic hardship;
• people with a legally recognised chronic disease verified by a medical declaration.

Foreigners who do not pay for social security

Health care provider units may require payment, in accordance with the norms and tables in force, for the health care provided to foreign researchers who are not registered with the National Health Service, except in the situations listed above, taking into account the circumstances of each specific case, namely as regards the economic and social situation of the person in question as assessed by the Social Security Services.

Health Centres

A Health Centre is the basic unit of the National Health Service (SNS); it provides health care services to the population. The Health Centre is the first place you should go to. Here you will find family and general medicine doctors, public health doctors (health delegates) and nurses, who provide essential health care of both preventive and curative nature. Aside from administrative staff, in some Health Centres there are also other professionals working, such as social workers, oral hygienists, environmental health workers, nutritionists and psychologists.

Health Centres are distributed throughout residential areas. You should go to the one in your area of residence, and find out about consultation hours, kinds of services, hospitals serving the Centre and supplementary diagnostic services available.

Registering in a Health Centre

The Health Centre in your area of residence will issue you with the Health Card (Cartão de utente) that must be presented each time you go to the Health Centre or at any other health unit.

Services provided in the Health Centre include:

• general and family medicine services;
• infant and youth health services;
• maternal health services;
• family planning services;
• public health services;
• nursing advise;
• nursing care;
• social services;
• vaccinations;
• supplementary diagnosis tests;
• in-patient services (in some cases);
• home visits and support;
• user’s office (Gabinete do Utente);
• supplementary services.

Opening hours

In general, any working day from 8 am to 8 pm. Some Health Centres have extended working hours and are open on weekends to deal with emergencies. Some services (namely consultations, vaccinations and injections) are only available at specific times.

Pregnancy and birth

The first check-up should be carried out in your Health Centre, as soon as you think you are pregnant. If the pregnancy is monitored in the Health Centre, pre-natal consultations will be arranged for you at the Hospital or Maternity Clinic in your area of residence. So, when you experience the first signs of labour, you can go directly to the Emergency Service of the Hospital or Maternity Clinic in your area of residence.

All consultations and medical tests undertaken during pregnancy and in the sixty days following birth are free. The doctor should issue an Exemption Certificate. Hospital birth as well as any hospitalisation due to pregnancy in a NHS Hospital or Maternity Clinic is free.

Individual Health Book

The individual Health Book – a vaccination book, which in the case of children and adolescents should be attached to their Child and Youth Health Book, is a document where vaccinations are recorded. This book is compulsory for registration in a crèche or school and at any level of education.

European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

European researchers, who are registered in a health/social security system of the EU Member States, European Economic Area or Switzerland, have access to health care under the same conditions as beneficiaries of the National Health Service during a temporary stay in Portugal, as long as they hold the European Health Insurance Card. The card is issued and may be used in 31 States:

27 EU Member States

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Rumania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom;

Three States-Party to the European Economic Area

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway;

Switzerland.

Each Member State is responsible for issuing and distributing the EHIC in its territory.

The holder of the EHIC is entitled to all the benefits in kind that may become clinically necessary during a stay in the territory of another Member State/State party to the EEA and Switzerland, taking into account the nature of the benefits and the planned duration of stay. In compliance with the principle of equal treatment, the insured person will have to pay only the charges and co-payments that nationals of that State pay to obtain such health care. The EHIC does not cover situations where the insured person goes to another State for the purpose of receiving medical treatment.

For the purpose of issuing the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC), the competent institutions are as follows:

In Portugal

In relation to the beneficiaries of the general social security scheme institutions:

in the Continent:

any Centro Distrital do Instituto da Segurança Social, I.P. or local services including Lojas do Cidadão, even if it is not the one of your area of residence.

in the Autonomous Region of the Azores

the services of the Centros de Prestações Pecuniárias.

in the Autonomous Region of Madeira

the services of the Centro de Segurança Social.

In relation to the subsystems beneficiaries:

the services of the subsystem that covers the beneficiary, on direct request of or redirected by a Centro Distrital do Instituto da Segurança Social, I.P.

In a Member State/Party other than Portugal

the institution defined by that Member State/Party

Further Useful Information

National Emergency Number: 112

National Health Line: 808 24 24 24