Close to 4800 doctors and more than 1300 foreign nurses currently work in Portugal, a number that has increased in the case of clinicians, while in the case of nurses it remains stable, according to data from the respective professional orders.
Data from the Medical Association (OM) provided to the Lusa agency indicates that, in 2021, there were 4,360 foreign doctors practicing in Portugal, a number that rose to 4,503 in 2022, to 4,730 in 2023 and to 4,770 this year.
In 2024, the most represented nationalities among these doctors are: Spanish (35.4%), Brazilian (26.9%), Italian (5.7%), Ukrainian (3.9%), German (3.5% ), Cuban (3%), Angolan (2%), Colombian (1.9%) and, with 1.5% each, Romanian, French, Cape Verdean and Guinean.
Commenting on these data to Lusa, the president of the Order of Doctors, Carlos Cortes, said that the OM does not care about the nationality of the professionals, but rather their capabilities and qualifications to practice the profession.
“The order of doctors has registered an increasing number of doctors of other nationalities and this is obviously important”, but, he argued, conditions should be given to Portuguese doctors practicing abroad to return to the National Health Service.
He announced in this regard that the OM will send a proposal to the Assembly of the Republic this week, in which it defends “special conditions” of attractiveness, in addition to the Regressar program, for these doctors to return to Portugal.
Carlos Cortes also argued that there is “a set of efforts” that must be made to attract doctors to the SUS, regardless of nationality.
He highlighted that the OM is “very pleased” to see the presence of foreign doctors in Portugal, but highlighted that they have to be “differentiated doctors”, with “the appropriate qualifications”, and there is a set of mechanisms to make this assessment.
The data indicates that, in 2021, 122 doctors registered with the OM needed to request recognition of their academic title from a Portuguese university, a number that rose to 220 in 2022 and to 306 in 2023. In the first 10 months of this year, there were 212.
“18 specialty exams were carried out in 2021 (one failed), 32 in 2022 (four failed), 35 in 2023 (four failed), and nine so far in 2024 (two failed)”, they say.
1,311 foreign nurses also work in Portugal, the majority from Brazil (469), followed by Spain, with 294, according to data from the Order of Nurses.
There are also professionals from Portuguese-speaking African countries, namely Angola (60), Cape Verde (52), Guinea-Bissau (41), São Tomé (40) and Mozambique (5).
The data also points to the existence of 55 professionals from France, 39 from Ukraine, 30 from Moldova, 28 from Germany, 22 from Romania, 18 from England, 17 from Italy and another 17 from Venezuela, among other countries such as Russia (17 ), Peru (15), Netherlands (15), Poland (12), Belgium (8), Canada (7) and USA (7).
Speaking to Lusa, the president of the OE, Luís Filipe Barreira, said that the number of immigrant nurses has “remained more or less stable in recent years”.
Asked about the importance of these professionals at a time when the SUS is struggling with a lack of nurses, the president stated that the “most important” thing would be to have a human resources policy to retain Portuguese nurses.
“We graduate from the best nurses in the world” who then emigrate in search of better working conditions, he lamented, remembering that there are 14 thousand nurses missing in the SUS, citing official data.
For Luís Barreira, it is necessary to carry out a survey of these needs, “which are urgent”, and outline a hiring plan.
“This subject has been the subject of meetings by the Minister of Health, who is aware of this matter, and I hope that in 2025 this survey will be carried out”, he declared, also defending the need to improve “the conditions of nurses in Portugal ” so that those who emigrated return.
Data from the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS), published in the document “Health Human Resources Plan 2030”, state that the number of foreign doctors in the SUS increased from 902 in 2017 to 967 in 2023 (+7.2%) and that of nurses from 515 to 684 (+32.8%).
The ACSS highlights that “its contribution can be decisive in certain regions” such as greater difficulties in recruiting and retaining health professionals.
