The union expects action from the Minister of Health on INEM on Wednesday

The Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Physicians (STEPH) regretted that the INEM president “failed” to indicate solutions to improve emergency medical services on Tuesday, hoping the minister would announce measures on Wednesday.

The union was referring to Luis Meira’s hearing today before the parliamentary health committee, in which he acknowledged the degradation of the service was “undeniable” and defended the need to strengthen INEM’s budget, saying funds for the institute represent just 1% of health spending.

According to STEF, who attended the parliamentary hearings, despite the fact that the head of INEM suggested “the degradation of the emergency medical service,” “he failed to recognize the causes” of this situation and “indicate the necessary solutions” to improve the situation. .

“It is clear that the INEM board of directors, despite being aware of the undeniable degradation, is unable to identify the causes or indicate solutions and places responsibility for its failure to govern on the trustees,” the union emphasizes.

The union also states that in the first days of June, there have already been “several dozen reports of delays in answering calls, as well as in sending emergency medical resources to various incidents as a result of a known shortage” of ambulances. technicians – hospital (TEPH).

“More than 50 calls to CODU or more than one and two hours to dispatch ambulances for other incidents such as those recorded in recent days are unacceptable and put the lives of citizens at risk,” the union warned in its statement.

According to STEPH, the Minister of Health has “no alternative but to “immediately and completely replace” the board of directors, develop the career of TEPH and fill open vacancies on the staff of the institute.

Ana Paula Martins will be heard before the Health Commission on Wednesday and the union said it “calmly awaits the measures it will communicate” to MPs on the issue.

Also in a statement, the National Association of Emergency Medicine Doctors (ANTEM) considers that today’s statements by Luis Meira to MPs “are nothing more than a delay and prolongation of the speech in strategic terms.”

“We conclude that the President of INEM, as we have mentioned on several occasions, is avoiding important issues and leading the institution towards a situation that has a tendency to deteriorate rapidly, all due to a lack of knowledge about what a real emergency medical service is . ” lamented the association, which intends to ask the Health Commission to hold a hearing “as soon as possible.”

At today’s hearing, Luis Meira noted that INEM needed to “have a strengthened budget” to ensure it could fulfill its responsibilities, adding that the institute received an amount equivalent to 1% of global health spending, with limits registered with the National Health Service (SNS). ) will also be reflected in the services provided by INEM.

“We are not an island in the SNA sphere, into which we were recently included. The difficulties of the SNA are clearly reflected in the daily activities of the institute and are sometimes expressed in particularly negative ways. Thus, it would be better to prevent the work of the institute,” warned Luis Meira.

Despite the difficulties, the INEM president stressed that the situation is “not as dramatic as it seems,” assuring that his “bankruptcy and collapse are an exaggeration.”