The government will guarantee that Portuguese expats will still have “full access” to social media.

The Ministry of Health (MS) assured this Wednesday that Portuguese residents abroad will still have “full access” to the National Health Service (SNS), saying they will not have to pay for treatment.

In a statement sent to the newsroom, the trustee said the changes to the National User Registry (NRU) are aimed at ensuring “control by the family health team, namely access to a family doctor for those who need it most.”

“This improves continuity and proximity of care to citizens in the context of known human resource shortages, which mean many people do not yet have a designated family health team,” he adds.

MS’s report comes after several doctors working in primary care told Lusa that they had been informed that from 1 January, Portuguese people with tax addresses outside Portugal would be considered “inactive”.

This would mean that whenever they use the social media service, they would have to pay the cost. According to MS, the gradual implementation of changes to the PNE “has occurred over the past ten months without any reports of disruption to SNS access and has enabled more people to be assigned a GP.”

“It is important to emphasize that the legislation that forms the RNU distinguishes user access to the SNS, which continues to be universal, from financial responsibility for the assistance provided, which is the responsibility of the SNS or a third party bearing financial responsibility.” depending on specific situations,” he emphasizes.

The MS emphasizes that “the service of Portuguese emigrants in the SNA is not in question,” which will continue to be “secured whenever they remain on national territory.”

“It is emphasized once again that there can be no question of them paying for this assistance. What has changed is the definition of financially responsible persons in the case of citizens who do not reside in Portugal, which allows the Portuguese state to reimburse the costs incurred by SNS for the treatment of citizens with health insurance in another country, where applicable,” he emphasizes .

And he adds: “The correct definition of the fiscally responsible entity allows different countries to bill each other for activities, thereby ensuring compliance with international rules and allowing our country to operate in a manner of reciprocity and fiscal responsibility.”