“The governing board conveyed to the workers’ committee that there is no intention to close any INEM facilities or to terminate any jobs as part of the proposals that have been made public,” the committee stated in a communiqué.
These statements from the workers came following a meeting on the process of reestablishing the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM). This operational reorganization is based on the report from the Independent Technical Commission, appointed by the Government to study and propose measures for the reestablishment of INEM, as well as the conclusions from audits by the Inspectorate-General of Health Activities and the Inspectorate-General of Finances.
The workers’ committee today received this report, which identified “deficiencies in command, control, and auditing,” the “progressive deterioration in performance indicators,” specifically call handling times and the number of lost calls, and a “significant asymmetry” in response times and resource deployment in coastal and inland regions.
Rui Gonçalves, the coordinator of the workers’ committee, mentioned to Lusa that the meeting with the governing board “was good, honest, and transparent,” indicating a “good path” forward to working together to find solutions for INEM employees.
The workers’ committee also revealed that the information gathered will be presented and discussed with professionals at the General Workers’ Assembly on Friday, highlighting it as a “sovereign moment for defining the collective position of INEM professionals.”
Following this, the committee will meet again with the governing board to formally convey the workers’ stance and their contributions for the future of the Integrated Medical Emergency System, according to the communiqué.
Today, the president of INEM told Lusa of the intention to begin implementing operational changes as part of the reorganization starting next week, with the process expected to conclude by the end of the first quarter of 2026.
The Independent Technical Commission proposed that differentiated resources from the medical emergency helicopter service, emergency and resuscitation medical vehicles (VMER), and immediate life-support (SIV) should be allocated to local health units, arguing that this would represent “resource sharing and career advantages.”
The reestablishment of the institute, announced by the Government, also involves changes in INEM’s structure and organization, a responsibility of the Ministry of Health, which aims to proceed with the decree-law for this purpose by the end of January 2026.
According to the institute’s president, the operational changes aim to ensure that “INEM returns to its core mission,” considering that the Portuguese assess emergency services based on the institute’s capacity to handle calls and dispatch ambulances within the times defined by triage.
