If you get sick   

If you get sick you'll have to go to a Centro de Saúde (Health Centre), the basic unit of National Health Service; for each consultation or other form of health assistance you'll have to pay a specific fee called Taxa Moderadora.

According to law, health care is mostly free, according to user's social and economical condition.

However, if there's an emergency, you can go to a public hospital of the area you live.

Public Hospitals - Lisboa Area

Santa Maria:217 805 000

Dona Estefânia:213 126 600

Egas Moniz: 213 650 000

São Francisco Xavier213 000 300

Curry Cabral: 217 993 527

São José: 218 841 000

Júlio de Matos: 217 917 000

Public Hospitals - Porto Area

S. João: 225 512 100

Stº. António: 222 077 500

Magalhães de Lemos: 226 192 400

Joaquim Urbano: 225 899 550

Conde Ferreira:225 071 200

Maria Pia: 226 089 900

Militar Regional n.º 1: 226 063 011

If you suspect you have swallowed, drank or inhaled any kind of poison, call

Centro de Informação Antivenenos

Tel: 808 250 143

At any time of day or night there will be a medical staff to whom you may appeal.

Keep calm and prepare yourself to answer the questions you'll be asked

In case you're not the patient but someone else who is with you, several important questions will also be asked:

• Who? (male, female, child)
• What? (which poisonous product: medicine, pesticide, detergent, plant, etc)
• How? (eaten, inhaled, dropped over the skin, reached for the eyes)
• When? (how long did it happen)
• How much? (which quantity)
• Sick person condition? (full alert, sleepy, vomiting, pain, ...)

How much does it costs? No charges if the user calls trough the blue line; Local/national call if any other number is used

If you have an accident

Emergency Numbers

SOS: 112 (1)

Poisoning:  808 250 143 (2)

Firemen/LIsboa: 213 422 222; 213 906 060; 213 924 700

Firmen/Porto: 225 073 700; 222 038 387; 226 151 800

Police/Lisboa

Traffic Brigade: 213 922 300

Police Force: 217 654 242

21 Polícia (3)

Police/Porto

Brigada de Trânsito: 223 399 760

Polícia de Segurança Pública: 222 006 821

Forest Protection: 117 (1)

(1) Free call

(2) Local call

(3) Using a keyboard like the one of the mobile phone (letters and numbers) dial 21 and then write Policia (all you have to do is to press the keys where the letters are)

If you are victim of aggression/theft       

If you are a victim of any kind of crime you have to present charge within six months after the crime taking place in the following places:

• Public Attorney at the courthouse of the area where the crime was committed;
• Departamento de Investigação e Acção Penal (DIAP) in Lisboa, Porto and Coimbra;
• Trough the Ministério da Administração Interna (Ministry of Internal Affairs) electronic complaints site https://queixaselectronicas.mai.gov.pt/sqe.aspx?l=PT; ;
• Police authorities such as:
• Polícia de Segurança Pública (PSP);
• Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR).

What you need to present a complaint

To present a complaint, you must fill a questionnaire with:

• Time and date of the crime;
• Your identification;
• Where it happened;
• Complaint description;
• Witnesses.

You can also make your complaint trough Internet, on the site https://queixaselectronicas.mai.gov.pt/sqe.aspx?l=PT

The national assistance organization Associação Portuguesa de Apoio à Vítima (APAV) http://www.apav.pt/apav.html provides, free of charge, support for crime victims in 3 areas: psychological, social and law.   

If you witnesses or are victim of any kind of crime dial 707 20 00 77

Lost and found

The Lost and Found Portal - http://perdidoseachados.mai.gov.pt/ - allows a quick and simple search about goods handed over to police forces, GNR e PSP.

For the moment, data only concern Lisboa, Porto, Coimbra, Faro, Setúbal and Fátima.

The search in this Portal doesn't exempt a search at other lost and found services like those from public transports.

Cancellation of Debit and Credit Cards

In case of theft or loss, contact, as soon as you can, the issuing entity of your card trough the fax, email or phone in the contract.

If you don't have those numbers with you, call SIBS (tel. 808 201 251, if you're calling from Portugal, or tel. 217 813 080, if you're calling from abroad, fax 217 813 080) or UNICRE (tel. 213 159 856 or fax 213 154 612).

In order to make your contact easier, always try to have at hand the number of your card and the help numbers. When you're travelling, don't forget to take with you, kept separately, these numbers.

Mobile Phones                        

If you lose your mobile phone or get robbed, you should have it barred immediately. Get your mobile serial number by dialling the sequence *#06#: 15 numbers will appear, that's the serial number you should keep in a safe place to inform the mobile operator in case of theft or loss. After this, no one can use your mobile even if the card is changed.  

If the battery of your mobile wears out, no problem, it has a supply. All you have to do is to dial *3370# and automatically the mobile gets 50% extra power. When you charge the mobile again, it will also charge that energy surplus.

The emergency number all over the world is 112. This number can be dialled even if the mobile is blocked or without funds.                     

Receiving Money from Abroad

If you're short of money, there are several ways of receiving money from home in Portugal.

Bank Transfers

Bank transfers in euro and in Norwegian, Icelandic and Liechtenstein currency is possible until 50 000€; an EU regulation requires that fees charged for a money transfer within the EU must not be higher than those charged for a domestic transfer.

To carry out such an operation you have to know:

• IBAN - International Bank Account Number - allows the identification and validation of a bank account in the European economic area; it's composed by 34 characters maximum; in Portugal IBAN has 25 characters
• BIC - Bank International Code - this code corresponds to a SWIFT pattern used internationally as an identity code of bank entities.

Western Union Money Transfer

In Portugal, trough Western Union, it is possible to transfer a maximum amount of 5.500 €/a day.

The amount can then be picked up at a post-office where there is a Western Union counter:

For more information: http://www.westernunion.com/info/selectCountry.asp

Consular Support

Consular offices have the mission to support their citizens in case of need. Such problems as loosing your passport can be solved by contacting the embassy or consulate of your home country, which can issue a preliminary passport that authorizes you to return home.

The following website lists the addresses of embassies and consulates:

Embassies: http://www.min-nestrangeiros.pt/mne/estrangeiro/indice.html

Consular offices: www.secomunidades.pt/postos.php

Linha SOS Imigrante - 808 257 257

The phone line Linha SOS Imigrante can also provide information in case of need:

This phone line aims at giving immigrant's information and counselling about general matters and specific issues like aggression, housing and work problems; it's available in 3 languages, Portuguese, English and Russian