• André Biscaia, Claudia Conceiçao, José Martins, and Paulo Ferrinho.
• Associaçao para o Desenvolvimento e Cooperaçao Garcia de Orta (Association pour le Développement et la Coopération Garcia de Orta) AGO-Lisbonne, Portugal.
• Cah Sociol Demogr Med. 2003 Jul 1; 43 (3): 379-96.

AbstractPortugal has adopted the Beveridgian model of National Health Service after the revolution of 1974. However, certain principles have been proclaimed long before that date. In particular, equity in access to and solidarity in financing of health care have been emphasized since many decades, although not yet completely implemented nowadays. The NHS is managed by the Ministry of Health who employed in 1999 approximatively 115,500 professionals. In 1998, the Portuguese NHS had 245 medical doctors and 334 nurses per 100,000 population. As concerns ambulatory care, the NHS deploys throughout the country health centers where GPs act as gatekeepers. The NHS is plagued by several chronic shortcomings: politics and politicians are deeply involved in its decision-making process, its information system is weak, manpower planning is lacking, the medical careers outside hospitals are not appreciated, continuing education of health workers is neglected, the working conditions and skill-mix are deteriorating and, finally, the remuneration system is outdated.

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