The military of the Commando course “responds to stimuli”, but remains in an artificial coma.

The Minister of Defense said this Wednesday that a hospitalized soldier of the 139th year of the army command after suffering a “heat stroke” reacts to irritants, although he remains in an artificial coma.

“He reacts to stimuli, but the situation is still very alert. We are following this very closely, and I want, of course, to wish this soldier a speedy recovery,” Defense Minister Elena Carreiras said.

According to the minister, who spoke to reporters in Estremosa (Évora), on the sidelines of a visit to the residence of San Nuno de Santa Maria of the Liga dos Combatentes, the situation with the soldier is “monitored”.

“In fact, since the incidents in September last year, changes have been made to the course itself, and the military is doing much more careful monitoring and control of the actions during these very difficult tests in the preparation of the command course,” he said.

“Also in this case there was this monitoring, this follow-up, and so we are trying to figure out what exactly happened,” but “only doctors and the clinical situation will show what happened,” he added.

The defense minister, who hopes to visit “as soon as possible” the soldier admitted to the Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon, assured that she became aware of the case on June 12 and gave reasons why the army only revealed the situation a few days later.

“The army is evaluating the situation and may have imagined that it would be a more easily resolved situation, the fact is that it was impossible and therefore the military remains in an artificial coma and, at that time, he decided to give all the information, and it was what he did,” he said.

The Army said on Tuesday that the 139th Command Course soldier is in an induced coma after suffering “heat stroke” and the department launched an investigation.

The ground forces said in a statement that the course of the 139th commando regiment began on April 12, and two months later, on June 12, “during the execution of the instruction” march-run “for a distance of 15 kilometers with a load of five kilograms.” , at the 14th kilometer, the soldier was assisted by the military medical team, which called “INEM”, which took him to the Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon.

“He was diagnosed with heat stroke and due to the inherent risks of organ failure, he was placed in intensive care. The neurological situation recommended inducing a coma, a state in which he remains,” the note reads.

The Army adds that Chief of Staff General Mendez Ferrao has ordered the course to be suspended “until clinical evaluation of all trainees is complete” and an investigation process has been launched.

After completion of the clinical evaluation, the course was resumed and a running gait evaluation was conducted on June 16th.

The Army adds that this course is in its 11th week of 17 and has 22 trainees out of the original 52 trainees.

Last year, the 138th Course Commando was put under investigation after six people were treated in hospitals, including a soldier in need of a liver transplant.

The conclusions of the investigative process and the technical check of the 138th commando course were then sent to the Ministry of Public Administration.