ABSTRACT
The decision to make the towns responsible for increasing the numbers of academically trained doctors by setting up a system of scholarships was made by King Sebastios government. The municipalities burdened with the levy for training doctors and apothecaries were unevenly distributed and were concentrated in the central and southern parts of the country. The income from the municipalities listed in King Sebastios order was intended to provide scholarships to cover the substantial cost of a licentiate degree, and it could also be lent to teaching staff to enable them to print their books. The new power of the medical authority, further strengthened by the support that the crown was giving to the Faculty of Medicine, can also be seen in the way in which healthcare professionals were recruited. Geographically, wheat granaries were concentrated mainly in the borderlands of Alentejo, which tallies with the regions difficulties in importing grain. Granaries slowly spread to other regions, especially the Algarve and Trs-os-Montes.
