Health Minister admits INEM will have less night-time response capacity

This Friday, the Health Secretary acknowledged that pre-hospital emergency response capacity will be reduced with two fewer helicopters operating at night in the coming months, but believes two will be sufficient to respond to demand.

The National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM) announced on Thursday that two of the four helicopters it uses to provide assistance will stop operating at night from 1 January.

Commenting on the decision to journalists on the sidelines of the Lisbon IPO 100th anniversary ceremony, the Health Minister said INEM is pushing ahead with measures to ensure that the other two helicopters perform night duty as circumstances require.

Manuel Pizarro expressed the hope that the competition being developed will allow us to quickly achieve “a result that will restore the four emergency helicopters to full functionality.”

“Our prehospital emergency care system, fortunately, is the system it should be, with redundancy, that is, with the ability to respond to high-pressure situations. What will happen is that in the coming months” helicopters that operate on the mainland at night.

The government official added that experience has shown that helicopters are activated much less frequently at night than during the day.

“We are confident that these two helicopters, which will remain overnight, will be sufficient to meet current needs,” he said.

However, he acknowledged that the goal “is to keep the system running with reserves” and that from that perspective there will be less room to prevent some disruptions in the coming months.

At the same time, he expressed confidence that these months will pass “without worries.”

According to INEM, we are talking about helicopters operating in Viseu and Évora, with the president of the institute saying that this situation should last a maximum of six months.

Two other helicopters, based in Macedo de Cavaleiros and Loula, will operate 24 hours a day, INEM said.

INEM explains that the adjustment is the result of a consultation with the market, where the institute received only two responses, one of which contained a solution that will be implemented from January.

Speaking to Lusa, INEM President Luis Meira explained that the amount available for this service has increased from 7.5 to 12 million euros per year.

And he said that during the public consultation that was held to maintain the service until the end of the international competition that will take place, of the two companies that responded, one presented values ​​​​exceeding the limits, and the other – the current one stated that it could only serve two helicopters 24 hours per day.

The official said he expected this situation to last for a maximum of six months and that after the tender, four helicopters available 24 hours a day would return.

He further explained that although the situation is not ideal, the necessary answers will still be given to users.

Additionally, he added, helicopter flights at night account for 20% to 25% of the time, and the vast majority of those are between hospitals.