The Regional Government of the Azores considered that the archipelago is affected by severe shortages in the General Practitioner and Internal Medicine specialisations notwithstanding the fact that internship scholarships are offered to those who wish to work in the Azores.

Regional legislation, in order to promote the fixation of interns in the Regional Health Service, stipulated that doctors that come to the Azores to obtain their specialisations in these two domains can apply for scholarships in the value of three minimum salaries.

However, the dispatch of the Regional Secretary for Health that enacted offer of scholarships that address these insufficiencies also mentions that the Azores has severe shortages in all other medical specialisations.

Hence, medical students that frequent internships in the Azores in areas other than GP and Internal Medicine can also benefit from monthly scholarships in the order of two minimum salaries.

The applications for the scholarships should be presented to the Regional Directorate for Health during the month of February.

The concession of scholarships for internships undertaken in the Azores also comprises other assistance funds destined for the families of the medical students. It also establishes certain obligations or quid pro quos.

Among these obligations is the requirement that any medical doctor that has benefited from a internship scholarship must work in the region for a period of not less than twice the years that s-he benefited from the scholarship (up to 10 years), starting immediately after the conclusion of the internship.