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Almost 300 “illegal” clinics in Portugal
ERS, the health regulatory authority in Portugal, has identified approximately 300 private clinics here in the last two years that are effectively “illegal” – and operating in all areas of medicine.
Edition 639 (12 Aug 2010), 
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Bruno Filipe Pires
As they aren’t registered or properly checked, it has been impossible to verify whether the clinics comply with hygiene and safety regulations. But their existence is now in the open following the case of «IQ-Med» in Lagoa, an eye clinic which hit the headlines last week after it was learnt that four patients operated on by a Dutch ophthalmologist are now interned in Lisbon at risk of being permanently blind.
ERS – the authority presided over by Álvaro Almeida – received around 8.000 complaints from patients last year. The majority was to do with administrative problems, but quite a few hundred had to do with allegations over hygiene.
In cases where patients doubt a clinic is fully legal, Almeida’s advice is to ask for the ERS register (which should be up on display), and Complaints Book. “If you don’t get a satisfactory response to this request, the best way forward is for the patient not to use the clinic, as it is not legal”, he concluded – adding that a list of registered clinics can be found online on ERS’s website.
