Located on Avenida Afonso Costa, a five-minute walk from the Olaias metro station, the Lisbon City Council Social Services building has a new exam room, with a mammogram machine, donated by the Champalimaud Foundation, allowing screening breast cancer, with a doctor specialised in this area.

Booking a mammogram can be done by calling 800 910 155. The phone call is free, as is the exam.

At the inauguration of this mammogram room, the president of the Champalimaud Foundation, Leonor Beleza, highlighted that “there is an increase, still largely unexplained, in the incidence of cancer at younger ages”, noting that the phenomenon affects several types of cancer, including breast cancer, highlighting the importance of facilitating access to exams for people under 50 years of age, the age currently used as a reference for carrying out screenings.

“I suppose that, within some time, the entities that have to do with this will certainly understand that it is necessary to lower the screening age, but, in the meantime, this is urgent, because it is about saving lives”, stated Leonor Beleza.

Asked about the position of the president of the Portuguese League Against Cancer (LPCC), Francisco Cavaleiro Ferreira, who warned that the Lisbon City Council's initiative could have the opposite effect to that intended, causing "unnecessary noise and confusion", the president of the Champalimaud Foundation considered “the idea that someone could be harmed or disturbed by the fact that, eventually, having a positive mammogram when they are younger than 50 years old” was a bit too pessimistic.

“Lives can be saved because access is quick. I cannot understand why we are afraid that people may have access to these tests”, he reinforced, highlighting the quality of the screening machine and the support provided by a specialist from the Champalimaud Foundation.

The launch of the mammogram room takes place seven months after the signing of the protocol between the Lisbon City Council and the Champalimaud Foundation, signed in October 2023, due to the delay in licensing the screening machine, which “has much lower radiation and has micro radiation.”

The Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas (PSD), explained that the initiative aims to respond to women under 50, “because they are more unprotected” since the LPCC offers screenings from the age of 50 onwards.

“Lisbon is already moving forward with the capacity for these women [under 50] to come here [to the Social Services building], but if a 60-year-old woman comes here we will also treat them”, he highlighted, indicating that the service is “ without bureaucracy”, all that is required is the presentation of the Citizen Card and, in case of a positive result, the women are referred to the National Health Service (SNS).

Carlos Moedas highlighted that this “is a first step” in opening the Social Services of Lisbon City Council to the community, in addition to responding to municipal workers, hoping that, in the future, other types of medical examinations will be made available.

The mayor highlighted the municipality's strategy in the area of ​​health, with the construction of a local social state, in which the chamber complements the SNS's response, since “in the Lisbon region there are more than a million people without a family doctor ”.

Among the Lisbon City Council's measures in the area of health, the Lisbon 65+ health plan stands out, which has 14 thousand elderly people enrolled, around 2,600 teleconsultations carried out and almost 1,000 home consultations; the Lisboa + Saúde project, with two proximity clinics in Bairro do Armador and Alta de Lisboa; and the construction of health centers, including five new spaces since the beginning of the mandate, with an investment of 21 million euros, with around 41 million euros expected by 2027.