“We experienced an interruption for three to five minutes for the systems to switch to the Northern Operational Center (CONor) of 112 while we resolved a cooling issue. However, there were no setbacks or incidents that we were aware of,” stated the Public Security Police in response.
This clarification came after Rui Lázaro, president of the Emergency Pre-Hospital Technicians Union (STEPH), informed that the Urgent Patient Guidance Centers (CODU) have been experiencing issues since Monday afternoon due to IT problems at the 112 Lisbon center, causing delays in ambulance dispatches.
Rui Lázaro reported that the union was informed of constraints related to IT problems starting at 4:00 p.m. on Monday and that the issues remain unresolved, resulting in repeated data submissions to the National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM) and subsequent delays in ambulance dispatches.
The PSP specified that “no challenges were reported in the transfer of calls to the CODU.”
The union leader noted that the problem results in the incident information forms reaching the CODU devoid of details (such as name, address, and referenced situation), necessitating the repetition of the process, which has caused constraints and delays in ambulance requests.
“This issue leads to a duplication of services for the CODU, causing delays in INEM’s triage. Given that the CODU already operate with minimal services, this delay leads to waiting calls,” explained Rui Lázaro.
The union representative also mentioned that on Monday afternoon, there were several calls on hold and some that were lost and not recovered, with at least 30-minute delays in ambulance dispatches.
The emergency number 112 is managed by the PSP, and calls are handled by centers that perform screening and routing to security forces, INEM, firefighters, and the Maritime Authority.
