Mário Cruz / Lusa
The executive management of the National Health Service (SNS) ordered hospitals to cut spending in 2026, even if this means slowing down consultations and surgeries and other health care.
Public hospitals will have to cut spending in 2026.
According to , the instruction was given by the executive management of the SNS, in a meeting with directors of the Local Health Units (ULS), on October 14th, in Santarém; a few days after the delivery of the State Budget, to the Assembly of the Republic.
According to hospital sources, the morning newspaper said, the objective of these measures is reduce spending on medications, additional surgeries or consultations (outside normal hours), service providers and staff hiring.
In a context of growing demand for the SNS, these measures are generating concern and may have even greater impact on waiting lists for surgeries and consultations.
Speaking to , the president of the National Association of Family Health Units, did not want to anticipate the possible impacts of these measures, but recalled that “more expense is not synonymous with efficiency”.
“What we have to have is efficiency. Investments have to be sustained and accurate, but there has to be a clear strategy to protect and expand investment in what is really important”, he said André Biscaia.
“Primary health care and health centers are fundamental to ensuring equity, access, continuity of care… and, therefore, the spending cut cannot be blind. It has to be in what really represents waste, in what is redundancy, but it has to protect what really matters“, he added.
