Prescriptions and Pharmacies in Portugal for Americans, Britons

In Portugal the doctor issues your prescription electronically, and at the pharmacy you give the prescription number or your citizen card together with an access code that you receive by text, email or in the SNS 24 app. The state pays a fixed share of the price of reimbursed medicines, and the pharmacist must tell you about the cheapest similar medicine.

We read the pages cited below on 19 October 2026. The latest information they state is the SNS 24 page on prescriptions, which carries the line “Atualizado a 23-09-2026” (updated 23 September 2026) and which relies on ordinance 263/2023 of 17 August 2023 for the validity rules. This guide says what official pages say; it is not medical advice, so ask a doctor or pharmacist about any medicine. You need a user number to be prescribed under the SNS; our guide to SNS registration covers it, and the wider picture is in healthcare access for newcomers.

How does the Portuguese electronic prescription work?

The SNS 24 page explains that the “Receita Sem Papel” (paperless prescription) is an electronic model in force since 2015 that covers the whole cycle: the prescription at the doctor, the dispensing at the pharmacy and the checking of invoices. When it is issued, the prescriber signs it digitally and it is stored automatically in the national prescription database, so there is no paper proof to lose.

You can see it in several ways. The page says you get the prescription data by text, by email, or through a treatment guide (guia de tratamento) handed over by the prescribing doctor, and later you can always open it in the SNS 24 portal or the SNS 24 app. The SPMS, the health services agency, adds that at the appointment you can choose a paper treatment guide, or receive it by email, or read it in your personal area of SNS 24 if you are registered; the codes arrive by text.

The SNS 24 page says all types of medicines and health products can be prescribed this way, reimbursed or not, “with the exception of biological medicines and support products”. The same prescription can carry reimbursed and non-reimbursed items, and you may collect all of them or only some, at different pharmacies and on different dates (SPMS page).

What do I show at the pharmacy?

The SNS 24 page lists the sets of information you can present:

The page adds that if you want a medicine dearer than the fifth cheapest, you must show the option code (“código de direito de opção”). The Infarmed rules for pharmacies say the treatment guide is personal and not transferable, and that the pharmacist must tell you about the similar medicine with the lowest price, and about your right to choose when the rules allow it.

The treatment guide, according to the same Infarmed document, shows the prescription number, the prescriber, the date, the medicines with dosage and instructions, the validity date and what you will pay.

How long is a prescription valid, and how much can I collect?

The SNS 24 page says that, under ordinance 263/2023 of 17 August, prescriptions are valid for 12 months, except:

• manual prescriptions, valid for 30 days;
• paper prescriptions for short or medium treatments, valid for 30 days;
• paperless prescriptions for short or medium treatments with no more than two packs (or four unit-dose packs), valid for 30 days.

On quantity, the same page says you may collect at most what covers two months of treatment, and where that cannot be worked out, at most two packs per medicine (four for unit-dose packs) per month. Larger monthly amounts are allowed in two cases it names: loss, theft or misplacement of medicines, and a long absence from the country. A renewal can be collected up to 15 days before the two-month period ends.

One note on dates. The Infarmed dispensing rules (version 7.0 of 31 March 2023) still describe a 12-month validity for every paperless line, with up to two or six packs. They predate ordinance 263/2023, so we follow the SNS 24 page, which is newer.

How much does the state pay for medicines?

The Infarmed FAQ explains that not every medicine is reimbursed: the holder of the marketing authorization must apply to Infarmed, and the decision depends on therapeutic and economic advantage over comparable reimbursed medicines.

For the general scheme, ordinance 195-D/2015, as compiled by Infarmed, sets four levels of the state share of the retail price:

The level depends on the pharmacotherapeutic group of the medicine, which the ordinance lists in an annex. The “You pay” column is our subtraction from the percentages the ordinance states; where a reference price applies (see the generics section), the share is calculated on that price instead.

The Infarmed dispensing rules add a special scheme for “pensionistas do regime especial”: 5 points more at level A (95%) and 15 points more at levels B, C and D (84%, 52%, 30%), and 95% at every level for medicines priced at or below the fifth cheapest in their group. The Infarmed FAQ defines these pensioners as those whose annual income does not exceed 14 times the guaranteed monthly minimum wage or 14 times the social support index. We found no page that says how this applies to a foreign resident, so ask the health center whether your record carries it.

The SNS 24 page also says that people with the additional health benefit of the “complemento solidário para idosos” get 50 percent of what they pay for medicines, applied at the pharmacy, provided the benefit is recorded in the user registry when the prescription is issued. The page shows the maximum you must pay on the prescription itself.

Two things follow from this for newcomers. Whether your record counts as covered by the SNS changes who pays: our SNS registration guide explains complete and incomplete records. And if you rely on private insurance, see private health insurance and the visa, since the pages above describe only the state share.

What are generics, and what is the cheapest-medicine rule?

Infarmed’s FAQ defines a generic as a medicine with the same active substance, pharmaceutical form, dosage and therapeutic indication as the original, identified on the outer box by the letters MG. It says generics meet the same quality, approval, manufacturing and safety-monitoring requirements as other medicines.

Infarmed’s generics guide says that, under decree-law 11/2012, prescribing by international non-proprietary name (DCI, the active substance) is mandatory for substances that have authorized generics. For reimbursed medicines the state pays on a reference price: the Infarmed reimbursement FAQ says it is the average of the five lowest prices in each group of equivalent medicines, and that the state share is the applicable rate multiplied by that reference price, so you pay the difference. If the retail price is below the state’s amount the medicine is free for you. The guide is updated quarterly; the edition we read is for the third quarter of 2026, and the guide page says the reference prices were last revised quarterly in October 2026.

At the counter, the Infarmed rules say pharmacies must keep at least three medicines with the same substance, form and dosage among the five cheapest of each group, and the pharmacist must tell you which similar medicine costs least. The SNS 24 page repeats this and ties the option code to choosing a dearer one.

What can I buy without a prescription, and where?

Infarmed’s FAQ says a prescription is not needed for every medicine: it depends on whether the medicine is classed as prescription-only (MSRM) or non-prescription (MNSRM). MSRM can be dispensed only in pharmacies against a prescription from a qualified prescriber. The FAQ lists why a medicine is prescription-only, for example risk without medical supervision, frequent misuse, or injectable administration. Vaccines are covered separately, in our guide to the Portuguese vaccination programme.

MNSRM that are also not reimbursed may be sold outside pharmacies, in authorized outlets with a pharmacist or pharmacy technician responsible. Infarmed’s inspection page says such outlets must not hold prescription-only medicines. For the pharmacy itself, the FAQ says dispensing prescriptions is done exclusively in pharmacies, and the Infarmed internet FAQ describes home delivery as available only from pharmacies or registered outlets and, for prescription medicines, under the same dispensing rules, limited to the pharmacy’s municipality and neighboring ones.

How do I find a pharmacy that is open at night or on weekends?

Infarmed said on 8 May 2026 that its website now has a direct link, below the search area of its home page, to pharmacy opening hours and duty shifts “with information updated in real time”, a searchable map of mainland Portugal showing hours, location, contacts and services.

Under ordinance 277/2012, as compiled by Infarmed, duty rotas are proposed by the pharmacy associations, approved by the regional health administration (ARS) for the following year, posted visibly in each pharmacy, and published by Infarmed and each ARS on their websites. The ordinance says a pharmacy on permanent duty may close its doors to the public after normal hours if it has a service hatch (postigo de atendimento). A pharmacy on permanent duty or on call may charge, on top of the retail price, a surcharge of at most 2.50 euros per user, except for medicines prescribed on the same day or the day before.

Does it differ for Americans and Britons?

The prescription system is the same for everyone with an SNS record. What differs is a prescription you bring.

For Britons, GOV.UK’s travel advice says that UK prescriptions are not recognised in Portugal, that you should keep medication in its original container with the prescription label, that most medicines are bought at a pharmacy, and that for a repeat prescription you go to the nearest health center or hospital A&E and may have to pay. GOV.UK’s healthcare guide adds that you pay something towards prescribed medicine and that some people, such as pregnant women, children under 12 and unemployed people, may be exempt. That guide was last updated on 14 October 2021, so check the exemptions at the health center. If you hold an S1 form, our GHIC and S1 guide explains the route into the SNS. For urgent problems and the numbers to call, see our guide to emergency care in Portugal.

For Americans, we could not read an official U.S. page on bringing medicines into Portugal (see the note below), and the Portuguese pages we read do not set an entry rule. We can say what the Infarmed dispensing rules cover: prescriptions issued in other EU member states, which the rules say are paid in full by the user. The same rules add that for an SNS user with an active national user number, the dispensing rules apply as for a national prescription, provided the prescription meets the requirements for the state share. The page we read says nothing of prescriptions from the United States. Our guide to Medicare and U.S. insurance abroad quotes Medicare.gov saying drug plans do not cover prescription drugs bought outside the U.S.

Whatever your passport, we found no Infarmed page on the rules for carrying your own medicines across the border, so we state none; ask Infarmed’s information center before you bring anything that is a controlled substance.

What did we read, and what did we not?

On 19 October 2026 we read the SNS 24 page “Receitas” (updated 23 September 2026), the SPMS page on the paperless prescription, the Infarmed dispensing rules (version of 31 March 2023), the Infarmed FAQs on medicines, reimbursement, generics and the internet, the Infarmed generics guide page (third quarter of 2026), the Infarmed compilations of ordinances 195-D/2015 and 277/2012, the Infarmed notice of 8 May 2026 on opening hours, the Infarmed page on outlets for non-prescription medicines, and the two GOV.UK pages named above.

We could not read the U.S. State Department pages on traveling with medication (the site blocked automated access), the Portuguese text of ordinance 263/2023 itself, or a Portuguese page on importing personal medicines. The compiled ordinances on the Infarmed site may predate later amendments. For the first months in the country, see settling in during your first year in Portugal.