The city of Olhão hosted, last weekend, more than two hundred Portuguese and foreign doctors who participated, for three days, in the XIII International Congress of the Portuguese Society of Cardio-Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (SPCCTV).
The meeting, which took place at the Real Marina Hotel & Spa, next to the riverside area of Olhão, brought dynamism to the city in the middle of the low season, filling restaurants and shops in the congressmen's free time and making known a city that has a lot to offer in terms of touristy, even when it's not summer.
As many of the participating physicians made a point of mentioning, when visiting the city on business, the desire to return for leisure is a given.
The president of the Municipality of Olhão, who presided over the official opening ceremony of the meeting, alongside the president of SPCCTV Luís Vouga, said it was "an honor to host the congress in this municipality", inviting participants to get to know a fishing town, facing the Ria Formosa and the sea.
“We follow a strategy, today even more focused on tourism, but also on fishing and aquaculture. We have been thinking about the sea for 20 years, unlike others who have only recently realized its potential", said Francisco Leal, for whom "Olhão is one of the Algarve councils that least depends on exclusive tourism, but increasingly dominates in this aspect as well, betting on quality”.
At the Congress, which had already taken place in 2011 in this city, which proves that the reception was pleasing and that is why the organization decided to suggest this destination again, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was the guest of honor, having presented his vision on “The State of Health in Portugal: Ten Years after the Troika”.
The professor, who also made a point of praising Olhão, “such a beautiful land”, spoke of the changes that are being experienced in health in Portugal and the possible solutions for its improvement.
In his opinion, there are three scenarios for the future of Health in Portugal: “managing what exists until 2015, doing only the most urgent (…); make a mitigated option, admitting the concession of part of the health management to private or social institutions (…) or even, the more radical option, withdrawing important slices from the public sphere to the private and social”. The professor believes that this will be the least viable option, betting on a choice between the first and the second scenario.
Currently, we are at a crossroads: choosing between health, education or the social part. “How is it done? Do you let the elderly die more and bet on education? Or are we going to sacrifice education? (…) I am optimistic, I think there will be common sense and we will not be too radical in redefining the system. It will be perceived that it takes time to impose certain changes”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in Olhão, in front of an audience where the president of the Algarve Regional Health Administration, Martins dos Santos, the president of the Portuguese Society of Cardiology Mário Lopes and Ana Camacho, from the District Council of Faro of the Medical Association.
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