The Ministry of Defense refuted what it termed as “false information” regarding the transfer case of a 49-year-old patient with a cranial trauma. It asserted that, contrary to reports, the process took “2h15 with patient waiting time included,” not five hours.
“From the moment it was confirmed that the CODU would proceed with the mission to transport a patient from Castelo Branco aerodrome to Coimbra aerodrome, a FAP EH-101 helicopter took off from Montijo at 10:05 PM and landed in Castelo Branco at 11:20 PM,” the ministry stated in a communiqué accessed by Notícias ao Minuto.
The note added that the aircraft “shut down engines as it was still waiting for the patient” and then took off “from Castelo Branco at 11:40 PM.” “It landed in Coimbra at 00:20 AM, the time it delivered the patient,” it concluded.
“Since the helicopter took off from Montijo until it delivered the patient in Coimbra, 2h15 elapsed, including patient waiting time,” it read.
This position was also shared on the government’s social media, urging, “always confirm [the information] with official sources.”
Confirme sempre com as fontes oficiais. pic.twitter.com/MuJGRKiLWa
— República Portuguesa (@govpt) July 7, 2025
Meanwhile, the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) clarified to Lusa that the transfer was “a joint medical decision, between a doctor from ULS Cova da Beira, INEM doctor, and FAP (Portuguese Air Force) doctor,” based on “the patient’s clinical criteria, available and best-prepared means and resources to respond at that time, and other variables impacting the patient’s clinical state.”
INEM further emphasized that “the patient had access to highly differentiated healthcare through the medical teams involved, from pre-hospital emergency activation until admission to the destination hospital in Coimbra.”
It should be noted that also on Monday, the Ministry of Health referred any clarifications on this case to INEM, leaving unexplained what failed for the patient to be transported by an Air Force helicopter that would have taken over five hours to transfer from Covilhã Hospital to Coimbra University Hospitals.
The Ministry of Health referred any clarifications about the patient who took more than five hours to be transported from Covilhã Hospital to Coimbra to the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM).
Lusa | 12:50 – 07/07/2025
Additionally, the executive director of the National Health Service (SNS), Álvaro Almeida, referred the responsibility for patient transport to INEM, emphasizing that “hospital transfer is not within the executive direction’s competence.”
In the same vein, the president of the pre-hospital emergency technicians’ union, Rui Lázaro, argued that “the responsible parties have a face: it is the Government and INEM,” noting that “INEM did not timely ensure the timing of the tender” for hiring the medical emergency air service.
The public tender for this service was awarded to Gulf Med Aviation Services Limited only at the end of March.
From the decision to transfer the 49-year-old patient with cranial trauma from Covilhã Hospital until entering the emergency in Coimbra, more than five hours passed.
Lusa | 21:53 – 06/07/2025
Since July 1, the Air Force has ensured medical emergency transport with four helicopters that should operate 24 hours a day, but only one is currently able to fly at night, in a transitional operation until the company that won the tender has sufficient means available.
In addition to these four Air Force aircraft, Gulf Med provides, through direct adjustment until the contract comes into effect, two Airbus helicopters, stationed at Macedo de Cavaleiros and Loulé bases, which will only operate during the day.
[Updated at 7:41 PM]
