Patients in Portugal's Alentejo region have to travel nearly two hours to reach a clinic where they can get an X-ray covered by the National Health Service, known as the SNS, according to a report published Tuesday by the Health Regulatory Entity (ERS).
The Monitoring Information on the Contracted Radiology Sector found that 122 municipalities in mainland Portugal have no private radiology providers at all. In 154 municipalities, home to more than 1.5 million people, there are no SNS-contracted clinics offering exams such as X-rays, MRIs or CT scans through referrals from the National Health Service.
Travel times vary sharply between regions
The ERS said the minimum travel time from municipalities without a contracted radiology provider to the nearest one that does have an offer ranged from 13 minutes, in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley health region, to one hour and 57 minutes, in the Alentejo health region.
SNS spending on radiology tops 135 million euros
The SNS spent 135.6 million euros on the contracted radiology sector last year, an increase of 3.2% over the previous year, the report said.
The Norte and Lisbon and Tagus Valley regions accounted for the largest share of that spending, at 54.1 million euros and 45.9 million euros respectively.
Nearly 4.4 million exam requests recorded
Portugal has 795 establishments operating in the radiology field, of which 670 are private, cooperative or social-sector providers. Contracted providers registered 4,371,794 exam requisitions last year, and just 11 of those 670 non-public operators accounted for half of all the requisitions recorded.
