The head of Portugal’s ambulance service has admitted that the Algarve has suffered a lack of cover due to the closure of its Faro control centre in 2011.
Luís Meira, admitted yesterday that there is a shortage of ambulance staff in the Algarve, but stressed that the ambulance sevice has maintained operability” but only due to the extraordinary efforts exerted by staff in the region.
Luís Meira was reacting to a letter sent to the health minister by Faro mayor, Rogério Bacalhau, in which he warned of the possibility that the INEM emergency ambulance service would break down due to a lack of staff and the sheer exhaustion of the teams that are working all hours in the Faro and Olhão areas, among others.
Luís Meira said it was that the Algarve service was undermanned but that staff has managed to run the service with the greatest dedication and that extra staff has been in the Algarve during the summer months to meet the increased need.
In addition, "whenever necessary, we have resorted to staff brought in from Lisbon, in order to maintain the operation.” This all "reflects the effort that the institute has made to guarantee emergency and pre-hospital medical care to the population of the region," said Luís Meira.
Last week’s announcement that the Faro ambulance control centre was to be reopened in early 2017, will "ensure better operation in this region.”
The mayor of Faro sent a letter to the Minister of Health asking for an urgent resolution of the ambulance service situation, either by authorising the National Institute for Medical Emergency to hire more professionals or by bolstering teams through the transfer of professionals from other places in the country.
"The continuation of this situation puts at risk emergency medical care and discriminates negatively on Faro’s population," reads a letter sent by Faro council which is not happy with the cosmetic solution from the National Institute for Medical Emergency to ensure that the emergency medical vehicle stationed at Faro Hospital operates throughout the night during December. This, says Bacalhau, forces professionals to work when they are very tired and physically and emotionally exhausted."
The mayor's position comes just a week after the Secretary of State for Health, Manuel Delgado, announced the reopening of the Faro control centre and the promise of more equipment.
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