Portuguese apartment owners provide lodgings to medical personnel

Locals in many cities across the country are allowing doctors to stay at their spare apartments

With coronavirus cases across Portugal rapidly increasing and with the situation in neighbouring Spain quickly deteriorating, Portuguese citizens are coming to the forefront in aiding medical personnel in any way they can.

The latest initiative is one spontaneously started by some of Lisbon’s owners of land accommodation (LA) who have started making their apartments available to doctors and nurses in the city free of charge. That way, medical personnel will not be putting their own families at risk when returning home after treating patients sick with the coronavirus.

More and more locals are taking part in this mass display of solidarity, which in turn has prompted others to attempt to organize and structure the process – so as to protect the health of both the doctors and the ones providing lodgings. Soon, through the use of an online platform, medical staff will be able to request an apartment themselves, thus saving them time and resources, which would allow them to focus on their vital and critical work at the local hospitals.

Similar initiatives in other parts of Portugal

The Municipality of Porto has also begun its own campaign for providing housing for doctors and nurses. Local authorities in the city are in contact with hotels and apartments owners and are attempting to set up a system that will allow for the rapid accommodation of medical staff. Just a couple of days after starting this initiative, over 240 rooms were made available – 110 coming from two hotels.

In Braga, there has also been a massive display of solidarity. Not only are hotels and private individuals coming to the rescue, but so is the local church, which has also offered its premises as lodgings for struggling doctors and nurses.

It appears that the citizens of Portugal have very quickly come to realize that only working together can they overcome these trying times – and all of them are ready to do their part.