The Algarve is to have its regional ambulance control centre reinstated.
The National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) control centre for the region was closed in 2012 as part of a cost-cutting exercise by the Passos Coelho government with the loss of local jobs and local control.
The Secretary of State for Health, Manuel Delgado, visited the old Faro control centre on Monday and said that in early 2017, the region would get back its ability to direct ambulances and move patients around without calls being routed through Lisbon.
This will increase safety, investment and create jobs with the secretary of state promising more equipment, more ambulances and more specialist emergency response vehicles.
The head of the ambulance service, Luís Meira, said the closure of the Algarve's regional service in 2012 was a big mistake and one that he was delighted to see reversed.
