The long awaited, long promised by several governments Central Hospital of the Algarve, construction of which was formally approved yesterday by the government for a maximum amount of 426.6 million euros, is expected to start operating in 2031, the executive has announced.
In a statement, the government confirmed that the Council of Ministers approved a resolution authorising the Central Administration of the Health System, IP (ACSS, IP), to incur the expenditure for the signing of the contract – under a public-private partnership regime – for the conception, design, construction, financing, conservation and maintenance of the Central Hospital of the Algarve.
The government plans to spend a maximum of €426.6 million, spread over 27 years, with no more than €50 million spent each year, and estimates that the new infrastructure will be operational by 2031, the statement adds.
“After 20 years, after eight foundation stones were laid, the construction of the Central Hospital of the Algarve was finally approved today by this government,” said Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, at the Council of Ministers press conference in Lisbon, stressing that the moment was “a historic day for the people of the Algarve, for the Algarve region, and for the country.”
“[There are] more than €420 million of investment to be made in the project in a public-private partnership model, with a higher cost over the following 26 years, which we estimate to be a total cost of around €1.1 billion, due to the financial burdens over time,” he added.
Leitão Amaro stressed that, “finally, more than two decades after announcements, promises, and the laying of initial plans (…) one of the most important healthcare projects in Portugal will move forward and will happen,” emphasising that the Central Hospital of the Algarve is “a dream of decades, a promise of so many” now realised with this decision today by the Council of Ministers.
Prime Minister Luís Montenegro had already announced on Thursday, during the bi-weekly debate in the Assembly of the Republic, that the Council of Ministers would “approve resolutions for launching the tender for the construction of the new Algarve Hospital, a structural project that joins others such as the Hospital de Todos os Santos in Lisbon.”
The ‘elephant in the room’ considering staffing crises marking the state health system over recent years is where the government will source the healthcare professionals needed to run the new infrastructure.
Source: LUSA
