the council of Faro starting this week, 100% coverage of the population will have a family doctor assigned, announced this Saturday, December 1st, Paulo Morgado, president of the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve, at the inauguration ceremony of the new Unit of Family Health (USF) Dolphin.
The USF, located at the Health Center of Faro, was inaugurated with the presence of Marta Temido, Minister of Health. In his intervention, Paulo Morgado said that the opening of the new Family Health Unit «represents a special moment for all of us».
Is that "Faro it will be the first municipality in the Algarve – and probably one of the first in the country – to have full coverage, ie: 100% of the population with an assigned family doctor. This means that the citizens of Faro they will be better followed, better treated and accompanied with quality health care and ever closer», he said.
In the same context, Marta Temido, praising the commitment and dedication of all the professionals on the USF Golfinho team, underlined the role that these units play in strengthening the provision of proximity healthcare and increasing citizens' trust in the National Service of Health (SNS).
“The USF are an asset to the population, they represent more than a transaction of a medical act, they are much more than that. At USF we find a health approach that is made by doctors, nurses, clinical secretaries and a primary health care team that we want, increasingly, to guarantee a set of support at various levels, from oral health, visual health, psychology, nutrition», he defended.
The Health Minister also assured that primary health care is one of the priorities of this Government, and «the challenge we propose is to guarantee family doctor coverage to all Portuguese» and «what we are doing today with the opening of the USF Golfinho we are getting closer to the goal we intend to achieve».
Finally, the government official took the opportunity to pay tribute to Manuel Santos Serra, doctor and former director of the Albufeira Health Center for 22 years, died this week.
“He was a remarkable man from the point of view of his civic and social intervention and his medical work, standing out as a humanist, defender of freedom and democracy. Therefore, in consultation with the president of the ARS Algarve and the mayor of Albufeira, it is our intention that the Albufeira Health Center will be renamed Dr. Manuel Santos Serra Health Center. It is a tribute that we believe is fair. Very soon, we will hold a ceremony alluding to the work of this remarkable doctor», he announced.
The inauguration ceremony of the USF Golfinho was attended by Adriano Guerra, councilor of the Chamber of Faro, Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé, Paulo Águas, rector of the University of Algarve, Ana Paula Gonçalves, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, Leonor Bota, executive director of the Group of Health Centers (ACeS) Barlavento , as well as deputies of the Assembly of the Republic elected by the circle of the Algarve, members of the Parish Councils of the municipality of Faro, coordinators and health professionals from the various units of the three ACeS in the region and representatives of various regional and local entities.
With the entry into operation of the USF Golfinho, 16 Family Health Units are currently operating in the Algarve Region (3 in ACeS Barlavento, 9 in ACeS Central and 4 in ACeS Sotavento). Of these, eight are in Model B and 8 in Model A.
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