Data from the Ministry of Health (MS) indicate that between January and November 2021 the SNS performed 654,711 surgical interventions, 23.5% more than in the same period in 2020 (529,986) and 0.4% more than in 2019 (652,105 ), pre-pandemic year of Covid-19.

According to the Transparency Portal, between January and November 2011, 567,156 surgeries were performed, a number that rose to 577,807 in 2012 and to 593,342 in 2013.

In 2014, there was a slight decrease, to 590,038 surgeries performed, increasing again in 2015 (603,554), in 2016 (614,794), in 2017 (623,576), in 2018 (624,937) and 2019 (652,105). In 2020, the year the pandemic began, the number of surgeries dropped to 529,986, having recovered last year to 654,711.

A source from the Ministry of Health explained that the data began to be aggregated in 2010, the year in which 603,482 surgical interventions were performed until November, the date that establishes the beginning of aggregated data.

“Therefore, until November, we have the highest number of surgeries accumulated since there is a record”, he pointed out.

Of the total number of surgeries performed in 2021, close to 567,400 were scheduled surgeries and almost 87,300 were urgent surgeries.

“The most recent provisional data, referring to November 2021, continue to show the recovery of hospital care activity, namely with regard to surgical production, as a result of the effort of hospital entities, with production levels higher than those recorded before the pandemic”, says the Ministry of Health.

Comparing the data accumulated to November 2021 with the data accumulated to November 2019, the institutions that recorded the greatest increases in surgeries were Hospital de Braga, EPE (+34.8%), Hospital de Cascais, PPP (+ 27.5%), Centro Hospitalar Entre o Douro e Vouga, EPE (+17.8%), Centro Hospitalar de Leiria, EPE (+17.1%) and Centro Hospitalar Vila Nova de Gaia/Espinho, EPE (+12.9%).