The number of citizens without an assigned family doctor increased by 9.8% during 2023, from 1,570,018 in January to 1,724,859 in December, according to the National Health Service (SNS) transparency portal.
According to the data consulted by the Lusa agency, between January 2016 and December last year, the month with the lowest number of people living in Portugal without a family doctor was September 2019 (641,228), while the highest number was reached in May 2023 (1,757,747).
Between the minimum in September 2019 and the maximum in May 2023, the number of users without this specialist assigned increased by 174%.
On the other hand, the number of people registered in primary healthcare went from 10,574,055 in January 2023 to 10,570,863 in December, a decrease of 3,192 registered.
Between June 2020 and June 2023, the increase in registrations was constant, from 10,267,818 to 10,622,877 respectively, which represents 3.4% more users.
The transparency portal also indicates that, at the user’s own option, 22,069 did not have a family doctor in December 2023, 27.8% less than in January of the same year (30,585) and 10.7% of the total without an assigned family doctor.