New Faro hospital aims to end ‘postcode lottery’ in Algarve healthcare

A new €60 million hospital planned for Faro aims to tackle one of the Algarve’s longstanding challenges: unequal access to healthcare compared with other parts of Portugal.

The private Hospital Lusíadas Faro, currently under construction in the Lejana de Baixo area of the Algarve capital, is expected to open by the end of 2027. The project was officially presented on Monday at Palácio Fialho, where Lusíadas Saúde CEO Vasco Antunes Pereira said the ambition goes beyond just building another hospital.

“With the opening of this hospital, we want to eliminate, or reduce to levels very close to zero, the inequalities in healthcare determined by postcode,” he said. “There is no reason why a Portuguese citizen, or a foreign resident living in Portugal, should have different access to healthcare depending on where they live.”

The Algarve’s healthcare situation is considerably different from cities like Lisbon or Porto, which boast a larger range of specialist healthcare options, despite the region’s growing population and large international community.

Lusíadas says the new hospital will help address that gap by bringing advanced medical technology, additional specialist services and hundreds of healthcare professionals to the region.

The five-storey facility will occupy around 8,500 square metres and include 35 consultation rooms, five operating theatres, 13 examination rooms, 28 inpatient rooms, an intensive care unit, gastroenterology services, advanced imaging facilities and permanent urgent care for adults and children.

According to the healthcare group, the hospital will create around 500 qualified jobs and become one of the largest private healthcare investments ever made in the Algarve.

Cutting-edge technology will play a key role in the hospital’s daily operation. Hospital Lusíadas Faro is expected to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support diagnosis and clinical decision-making, alongside robotic surgery systems and hybrid operating theatres that combine surgery and advanced imaging in the same space.

Antunes Pereira argued that the Algarve still has considerable room to expand its technological capabilities in healthcare, particularly in highly specialised surgical procedures.

“The level of robotisation that exists today in surgery has an opportunity to be significantly improved in the Algarve,” he said.

The Lusíadas chief executive also used the presentation to advocate a broader shift in healthcare, placing greater emphasis on prevention and early diagnosis rather than treatment after illness develops.

“We are waiting to solve problems when they happen. That cannot be the paradigm,” he said.

“We need to move from a healthcare model focused on cure and treatment to one much more focused on diagnosis, prevention and primary health care,” Antunes Pereira said.

The new hospital will be the fourth Lusíadas unit in the Algarve, joining facilities in Albufeira, Vilamoura and Faro. The group currently provides healthcare services to around 300,000 residents and visitors in the region.

The hospital is expected to open at the end of 2027.

Source: Barlavento