The Minister of Health announced this Wednesday the creation of a commission of independent experts with experience in emergency and urgent care to analyze how the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) can be recreated.
“It’s not just a question of funding. It’s also a question of governance,” said Ana Paula Martins, who was heard by the parliamentary health committee.
The Minister recalled that INEM had previously received funds from insurance financing and “managed part of this financing, in an amount much lower than necessary.”
He also said that the disagreements with the outgoing INEM president had always been related to the announcement of a public tender for the provision of helicopter ambulance services.
“I don’t believe that we are lying. And I don’t believe that the president of INEM is either,” she said when asked who is lying, since the versions issued on this matter by the Ministry of Health and INEM diverge.
He again insisted that the previous government, by a resolution of the Council of Ministers, had authorised INEM to open a tender for air transport of patients for a period of five years in the amount of 12 million euros, and that the two competitors that had emerged represented superior values.
“Already then, under the previous government, the president of INEM identified the need to significantly increase the cost to 15 or 18 million euros,” he added.
In this regard, he said that this government has several reasons why this cost should not increase: “The first of them is that from the very beginning, when we managed the state budget for 2024, we did not allocate a value for this.”
Subsequently, he continued, despite the reluctance of the Court of Auditors to accept the first direct adjustment made by INEM regarding emergency medical helicopters, “this adjustment was made for six months and on the condition that a new tender would be opened during this period.”
“We never interfered with the INEM Board of Directors, which has autonomy, and we never gave any instructions not to hold another competition. We were all aware that we would have to find a solution, on the one hand, through an international competition, possibly with a redefined specification,” he said.
He said the Health Ministry had held talks with the BBC “at government level” to try to find an answer “to protect the future”: “It does not seem like anything that would prevent the current INEM president from starting other kinds of efforts.”
The controversy over emergency helicopters for transporting patients and the divergence of positions on the steps to be taken in this regard led to the resignation of INEM President Luis Meira on 1 July.