Regulation

Veterinary medicine in Portugal falls under the remit of the Ministério da Agricultura e do Mar (The Ministry of Agriculture and Sea), based in Lisbon. The National Authority for Animal Health is the Direcção Geral de Alimentação e Veterinaria. Veterinary medicine is regulated by the Ordem dos Medicos Veterinarios under the European Council Directive 78/1027/CEE (18 December 1978) on the activities of veterinarians.

Veterinary Specialist Recognition 

Ordem dos Médicos Veterinarios is responsible for the recognition of veterinary specialisation under the Regulamento Geral de Especialidades n.º 529/2014. EBVS-recognised Colleges are recognised officially according to the Ordem dos Medicos Veterinarios. The Ordem dos Medicos Veterinarios has a project to regulate the specialization in Portugal. As part of this project national specialisation has been started. There is currently no veterinary specialist register.

Advanced Veterinary Practitioners

There is currently no advanced veterinary practitioner training or status in Portugal.

Continuing education of veterinary general practitioners

Continuing education is not compulsory for veterinarians in Portugal.

Veterinary education 

There are six universities offering a full veterinary curiculum. There are four veterinary schools at public universities - the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Technical University of Lisbon (founded in 1830), the School of Agrarian and Veterinary, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro in Vila Real (founded in 1986), the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Evora (founded in 1973) and the Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences (founded in 1979) at the University of Porto. There are two veterinary schools at private universities - the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the Universidade Vasco da Gama in Coimbra (founded in the 1990s) and the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at the Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon (founded in the mid 2000s). Veterinarians in Portugal can use the courtesy title of Doctor.

Membership Organisations

The membership organisation is the Ordem dos Medicos Veterinarios, which has a regulatory function.