Portugal’s First Proton Therapy Center to Open in Porto by 2028

Portuguese families who have spent years boarding early-morning flights to Madrid in search of proton therapy may finally see that suitcase stay in the closet. The Government has confirmed that the Instituto Português de Oncologia in Porto will host the country’s first National Proton Therapy Centre, an €80 M project financed largely by the Amancio Ortega Foundation and European funds. Construction will start in 2025, with the first patients expected around 2028. Until then, oncologists, patients and taxpayers will be watching how the Porto unit positions Portugal in a field where Spain already claims two state-of-the-art facilities.

Why this matters for Portuguese patients

In practical terms, the new unit means that pediatric oncology services in Porto will no longer need to refer children to foreign hospitals for cutting-edge radiotherapy. That shift could spare young patients weeks of travel-related stress and save the public health service hundreds of thousands of euros in cross-border reimbursements. Because proton beams can stop within a tumour—unlike conventional X-rays that pass beyond it—doctors expect fewer long-term side effects, an issue that carries extra weight when treating children with decades of life ahead of them. Adult patients with tumours near the optic nerve, spinal cord or other critical structures should also benefit from the technology’s millimetric precision. For a country still battling above-EU-average cancer mortality, every new therapeutic option counts.

Money, bricks and beams: how the project will be funded

The cost of the two super-conducting accelerators—roughly €80 M—will be covered outright by the Amancio Ortega Foundation, the Spanish charity better known for financing radiology upgrades in public hospitals. Everything else, from reinforced concrete bunkers to the IT backbone, will draw on Norte 2030 cohesion funds and a contract-programme between the Administração Central do Sistema de Saúde and IPO Porto. Health minister Ana Paula Martins has promised that the financing model will insulate the project from election cycles, yet auditors will keep an eye on foreign-exchange swings, as many high-energy components are priced in dollars.

What is proton therapy and why doctors call it "smart radiation"

Traditional radiotherapy relies on photon beams that gradually lose energy as they exit the body, irradiating healthy tissue on their way out. Proton therapy behaves differently: the particles deposit most of their energy in a sharp peak—the Bragg peak—and then stop, creating a more contoured dose. The technique demands enormous infrastructure, from a cyclotron or synchrotron to magnets the size of small cars, which explains both the price tag and the scarcity of centres worldwide. Clinical trials in the United States and Japan report lower rates of secondary cancers and better preservation of organ function, evidence Portuguese oncologists cite when lobbying for the Porto centre.

Iberian neighbours already ahead – and what we can learn

Spain opened its first proton room in late 2019, and by November 2024 the Clínica Universidad de Navarra had treated more than 1 000 patients across 20 tumour types. A second site, the Quirónsalud Proton Therapy Centre, operates just kilometres away. These centres publish outcome data that Portuguese regulators will scrutinise, including a 97 % three-year survival rate for early-stage breast cancer patients and 99 % for non-metastatic prostate cancer cases. Partnerships are already on the table: Porto aims to share treatment protocols, co-author research papers and even negotiate bulk purchasing of liquid helium, a vital coolant whose price has soared.

The countdown clock: milestones between now and first patient

Between now and 2028, planners must clear a dense forest of environmental licences, civil-engineering challenges and staff recruitment hurdles. The tender for the main building contract should go out within the next six months, with ground breaking slated for early 2026. Meanwhile, IPO Porto will send radiographers and medical physicists abroad for specialised training, an essential step because a single calibration error can derail the entire dose-delivery system. Testing of the accelerators—shipped in sealed containers from the United States—will take at least nine months, followed by an equally demanding regulatory validation phase from the Autoridade Nacional de Medicamentos e Produtos de Saúde.

What still needs to be decided – and why transparency will be crucial

Key questions remain: how many annual treatment slots will be reserved for public-sector patients, whether the centre will charge private insurers a premium, and how referral criteria will be harmonised with Lisbon and Coimbra oncology units. Health economists warn that vague governance could fuel accusations of "technology tourism"—an influx of non-Portuguese patients that might crowd out locals. To prevent that, IPO Porto’s board has pledged to publish quarterly performance dashboards detailing waiting times, case mix and radiation-induced toxicity outcomes.

Looking ahead: from treatment to research hub

Officials want the Porto initiative to evolve into a southern-European knowledge node, attracting clinical trials on rare tumours and fostering partnerships with engineers at FEUP and physicists at CERN. If those ambitions hold, Portugal could shift from a technology importer to a modest exporter of proton-therapy expertise. For now, though, the promise is simple: by 2028, a child diagnosed with a brain tumour in Vila Real or Évora should be able to receive world-class, high-precision radiation without leaving Portuguese soil.