Dr. José Brito Tavares

Dr. José Brito Tavares is a senior general surgeon at the Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto in Praia, the main public hospital of Cape Verde's capital and the country's primary referral surgical centre. With 17 years of surgical experience, Dr. Brito Tavares is one of the more experienced surgeons in Cape Verde and has been a central figure in the Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto's surgical department for much of the past decade.

Surgery in Cape Verde's island context presents unique logistical challenges. Patients on outer islands such as Fogo, Brava, or Maio requiring surgical intervention must be stabilised and transferred to Praia, and the surgical team at Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto must be prepared to handle the full spectrum of surgical emergencies on arrival. Dr. Brito Tavares has extensive experience managing emergency presentations at advanced stages, including appendicitis with perforation and peritonitis, incarcerated hernias, bowel obstruction, and acute trauma.

Beyond emergency surgery, he performs planned abdominal procedures and is one of a small number of surgeons in Cape Verde capable of thyroid surgery — an important service given that goitre is encountered in the Cape Verdean population and referral abroad is expensive and not always feasible. Dr. Brito Tavares also undertakes regular surgical outreach visits to the larger outer islands to provide planned surgical consultations and minor procedures locally.

Dr. Brito Tavares completed his Licenciatura em Medicina in Portugal. He undertook general surgical residency training in Portugal before returning to Cape Verde to join the surgical team at Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto, where he completed his Especialidade em Cirurgia Geral within the Cape Verdean-Portuguese specialist training framework. He undertook a postgraduate surgical training period at a Portuguese university hospital focusing on laparoscopic surgery and thyroid and parathyroid surgery. He maintains continuing surgical education through engagement with Portuguese surgical societies and through international surgical skills update courses.

Dr. Brito Tavares performs the full range of general surgical procedures in Cape Verde's sole major surgical facility. He carries out appendectomy (open and laparoscopic), cholecystectomy, inguinal and incisional hernia repair, emergency laparotomy for peritonitis and bowel obstruction, and damage-control surgery for traumatic injuries. He performs thyroidectomy for benign thyroid disease and selected thyroid nodules, which is an important service in Cape Verde where endocrine surgery referral abroad is otherwise required. He manages soft tissue infections requiring surgical drainage, wound care for post-operative complications, and minor urological procedures.

Dr. Brito Tavares is primarily dedicated to clinical surgical service in Cape Verde, where the small number of surgeons means that each practitioner bears a significant individual caseload. He participates in the Ordem dos Médicos de Cabo Verde's continuing medical education activities and maintains engagement with Portuguese surgical societies for professional development. He has shared clinical experience at Cape Verdean national health conferences regarding the management of surgical emergencies in an island hospital context.

Dr. Brito Tavares consults in Portuguese and Cape Verdean Creole. He is accessible to diaspora patients from Portugal, the Netherlands, and the United States who require surgical consultation during visits to Cape Verde. Given Cape Verde's status as a significant tourist destination, he also provides emergency surgical care for international travellers. Planned surgical procedures at Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto can be arranged for diaspora patients seeking affordable surgery in a Portuguese-speaking, safe healthcare environment. He is familiar with reviewing European imaging and surgical records for patients who have had prior investigations conducted abroad.

Dr. Brito Tavares is recognised within Hospital Dr. Agostinho Neto and the Cape Verdean medical community as one of the country's experienced general surgeons. He is an active member of the Ordem dos Médicos de Cabo Verde and has been acknowledged for his contributions to surgical services on Cape Verde's outer islands through surgical outreach consultations, extending specialist surgical access to populations that would otherwise require expensive inter-island travel for care.