This message was conveyed by António Costa at the closing of the opening ceremony of the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University of Portugal, on the Sintra Campus, in Rio de Mouro, after an allusion to the long bureaucratic process until this private course was authorized in the country.

According to António Costa, in the long process of authorization for the Faculty of Medicine of the Catholic University, "the biggest lesson to be learned is the maximum scientific demand, but the null capacity of corporate blockade".

Therefore, stressed the prime minister, the effort to train more doctors in Portugal "will continue".

“And it is with great satisfaction that I see this ability that the Catholic University had to overcome the state bureaucracy and corporate powers, even associating with it other institutions in the fields of science [Gulbenkian] and clinical [Grupo Luz Saúde]. Certainly, this is a great lesson that we must all take, because, joining efforts and finding solutions to problems, there is nothing that cannot be overcome”, he defended.

With Cardinal Patriarch Manuel Clemente listening to his words, the Prime Minister left a brief humorous note in his speech: “For those who have the privilege of faith, it will be even easier to overcome difficulties than those who do not they have this privilege and have to be contained in what is the limited capacity of their human beings”, he said.

In his speech, the prime minister began by noting that the new college will open "at a particularly important moment" in terms of public health, with the country still hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and considered a cure for the "greater deficit structural” of the country is that of qualifications.

In terms of medicine, despite the increase in the number of doctors trained from 1995 to the present, there is still a high demand for medical courses.

“This effort cannot stop and, on the contrary, it can only impose greater demands on us so that we can continue. It is not worth discussing whether we have too many doctors, or if we have too few, because one thing is certain: There is a greater demand for medical training than what is offered”, said António Costa.

Also according to the prime minister, in addition to registering a demand of 600 candidates for every 50 vacancies, "every day one feels, either in the public sector or in the private sector, the lack of human resources in medicine."

“This means that we need more doctors and that there are young people who want to be trained in medicine”, he stressed.

In this context, António Costa praised the Portuguese Catholic University for having “overcame obstacles, ensuring the ability to have quality training and meeting scientific requirements”.

“Without sacrificing scientific requirements, we must continue this effort to increase higher education in general and also the number of doctors trained in Portugal”, he added.