The president of the Liga Portuguesa de Bombeiros highlighted the challenges faced by firefighting corporations due to closed emergency rooms, leading to extended pre-hospital emergency intervention times and necessitating more ambulances to meet demand.
The issue, he clarified, is not a shortage of ambulances but rather the limited availability of human resources, who operate on a volunteer basis.
“We can’t always sound the siren for these occurrences whenever a pre-hospital emergency arises,” he stated, noting that the fire departments have agreements with INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency) for one team.
However, he explained, when a pre-hospital emergency takes longer due to lack of nearby hospital response, instead of one team, two are needed at the stations, which is challenging.
António Nunes noted that before, emergency responses were localized to the district, but now they can take over three hours.
This situation affects not only Setúbal, where emergency room constraints are severe, but other regions too, citing recent cases where firefighters from Macedo de Cavaleiros (Bragança) transported a pregnant woman to Braga and frequently transported patients from the Guarda and Viseu districts to Coimbra.
Volunteer firefighters from Moita (Setúbal) shared on social media about a baby born today en route on the A2 to Setúbal.
António Nunes revealed that this year, at least 38 babies have been born in firefighter ambulances.
On Monday, a meeting between Health Minister Ana Paula Martins, INEM, and LBP discussed strengthening the pre-hospital emergency apparatus nationwide, particularly in the Setúbal Peninsula, where closures of gynecology and obstetrics emergencies have been recurrent.
As a result, two new ambulances have been added to bolster the obstetric emergency response on the south bank of the Tagus starting today, ensuring fast and safe assistance to pregnant women throughout the summer.
According to the Liga, these emergency resources, available until September 30, will be focused on hospitals with closed obstetric emergencies on the south bank, rotating among hospitals in Almada, Barreiro, and Setúbal.
These two ambulances are part of the existing protocol between LBP and INEM, establishing two new Seasonal Medical Emergency Posts.
António Nunes informed that there will be another meeting with INEM next week to review the situation and expand the Medical Emergency Posts to other parts of the country, enhancing the pre-hospital service with more ambulances in Aveiro, Braga, and Leiria districts, also on a seasonal basis.
The Liga’s president stated that these districts are also facing difficult situations.
He mentioned that the Algarve was recently reinforced with eight ambulances under the Medical Emergency Posts in firefighting corporations, also as a seasonal response.
In addition to this seasonal reinforcement, there are 38 ambulances in firefighting corporations as part of the Special Pre-Hospital Emergency Device (DEEPH), created in December 2024 to meet urgent care demands.
Six emergency rooms will be closed on Saturday and seven on Sunday, including two pediatric and the rest gynecology and obstetrics, according to the National Health Service Portal information reviewed today.
