According to Lusa, the package includes 18 MRIs, 25 CT scans, 13 angiographs, eight gamma cameras and 11 linear accelerators.

Information from DE-SNS sent to the Lusa News Agency also highlights that six surgical robots will be acquired in order to “allow the creation of a surgical robotisation network in the country, among the five existing pieces of equipment and the two in the acquisition phase”, which will increase the number of devices with these characteristics on the network to 13.

This investment was announced on November 13, in Coimbra, by the Secretary of State for Health, Ricardo Mestre, after inaugurating the country’s first digital gamma camera (equipment for carrying out diagnostic exams), at the Coimbra Hospital and University Center (CHUC).

In Porto, this program is scheduled to be formalised in a session called “Technological Modernisation of SNS Hospitals”, in which representatives of the 29 hospital units will benefit from the new equipment.

To Lusa, DE-SNS said that the hospital units will benefit from the program “during the year 2024, with the commitment to submit the respective applications”.

The ceremony, scheduled for 11:00am, at the Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Porto, will be attended by the Secretary of State for Health, Ricardo Mestre, the executive of the SNS, Fernando Araújo, the president of the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS), Vítor Herdeiro and the coordinator of the Recover Portugal Mission, Conceição Carvalho.

The €177 million are registered in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR).

The money is divided into two lines of financing, the SNS Technological Modernisation Program, which will allow the installation of 68 heavy medical equipment for the SNS Units in the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region, including the installation of equipment worth more than €17 million and a total of 13 pieces of equipment.

Totalling 81 pieces of equipment that will replace 75 devices “that were obsolete”, adds the executive director.

The group of beneficiary institutions includes the following SNS hospital units: Centro Hospitalar de Leiria, Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Ocidental, Centro Hospitalar de Setúbal, Centro Hospitalar de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Centro Hospitalar de Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, Centro Hospitalar do Baixo Vouga, Centro Hospitalar do Barreiro e Montijo, Centro Hospitalar do Médio Ave, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra, Centro Hospitalar Tondela-Viseu, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Central, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Norte, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Santo António, Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, Hospital da Senhora da Oliveira - Guimarães, Hospital de Braga, Hospital de Loures, Hospital Distrital de Santarém, Hospital Espírito Santo - Évora, Hospital Garcia de Orta e Hospital Professor Doutor Fernando Fonseca.

The oncology institutes of Coimbra, Porto and Lisbon are also beneficiaries, as well as the local health units of Matosinhos, Litoral Alentejano and Norte Alentejano.

In Coimbra, when the investment was announced, Ricardo Mestre spoke of the objective of renewing the “entire SNS” technology section, placing it “at the service of professionals and people”.

“We are in the process of major investment in the SNS and reformulating its technological field, modernising it and bringing to the country the best technology in the world”, said the official.

DE-SNS highlights “the introduction of technological innovation in the SNS, through the acquisition of new state-of-the-art heavy medical equipment and surgical robotisation, enhancing the retention of healthcare professionals”.