According to the same source, the investment for the construction of the centre should be around two million euros, under a partnership between the ULS of Algarve, the Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC) and the Municipality of Loulé.

When asked by Lusa about the number of patients that the centre could cover, the same source said that, as it is a new service in the Algarve, there is no historical data on the population to be served, estimating that “the annual assistance movement is around 200 couples for diagnosis and 70 for the complete cycle until the implantation of the fertilized cells”.

The functional plan for the future Medically Assisted Reproduction Center is still being “finalised,” so the cost estimate does not have a definitive final value, he added, and it is expected to be operational in 2026. The announcement of the construction of the new centre was made during the inauguration, in Loulé, of the Outreach Building, on Tuesday, a unit that will have a biobank, stem cell bank, Entomology center and Genetics laboratory.

On the occasion, the president of the Algarve Local Health Unit, Tiago Botelho, stressed that the new centre will help many couples to have children, emphasising that it will put the Algarve “at the forefront” with regard to infertility treatment, according to a note from Loulé City Council.

This is the second public centre for medically assisted procreation in the country, but it aims to be “even better” than the only one currently in existence, which is located in the Porto area, the note concludes.