Portuguese public healthcare is useless

Moved to this 30k people town about a year ago. Registered in the Centro de Saúde with SS number, NIF, etc. I can’t book an appointment with a GP because there’s a shortage of them, so I’m in the queue, position 16k. More than half the town in the queue.

If I need to see a doctor, I can choose from the following options:

• go to the Centro de Saúde to get a “senha” at 7am. The actual senha is handed out at 8:30, but since most people don’t have a GP, there’s a big queue every single day. The GP starts calling people in at around 11, so that’s a 4h wait, waking up at 6:30 am when you’re sick.

• go to the Hospital. You’ll still wait for 2-4h and copay a minimum of €14, potentially more depending on what you need. If you need anything that’s not very generic, you’ll need to see a specialist, often requiring you to drive to Lisbon (2:30h each way).

• go to a private clinic. Which would be fine if I wasn’t also paying OVER €1000 PER MONTH in Segurança Social.

There’s also no pediatricians here, you need to drive 30m each way if you need one. My son should’ve had his 2 year checkup, and they literally told me there are no pediatricians, that I should return in 5 or 6 months and ask again in case they already found one.