On Wednesday, 8th January, the Government approved the purchase of 275 new vehicles for INEM, representing an investment of €16.8 million, the Prime Minister announced, whilst apologising for circumstances that led to the deaths of multiple people who failed to receive timely emergency care.
“I would like to begin by expressing, on behalf of the Government, our condolences to the families of those who died in recent hours and who did not receive the fastest possible response from the emergency system, despite the reinforcement carried out in the Setúbal and Lisbon regions involving all available ambulances,” said Luís Montenegro, opening the fortnightly debate in Parliament.
The Prime Minister went on to announce that the PSD/CDS-PP Government had approved “the acquisition of 275 new vehicles for INEM, with an investment of €16.8 million”, adding: “This includes 63 ambulances, 34 rapid-response medical vehicles (VMER) and 78 other vehicles, the largest investment of its kind in the past decade.”
Luís Montenegro also announced that, on Friday, the Council of Ministers will “approve the resolutions to launch the tender for the construction of the new Algarve Hospital, a major structural project to be added to others such as the Hospital de Todos os Santos in Lisbon”.
“Earlier today, at a meeting between the Minister of Health and the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, it was also decided that we will create a rapid response of between 400 and 500 beds in intermediate care units, in order to remove some cases from the hospital system that are currently reducing capacity for genuine emergency situations,” he said.
The Prime Minister framed “all these investments” within an “ongoing deep reform of INEM” aimed at ensuring “a faster response from the medical emergency service”.
“We are already implementing the technological modernisation of the Emergency Patient Guidance Centres (CODU) and changes to the triage system. In 2026, we will continue the structural reform of the health system to guarantee a rapid, effective and humane response across the entire country,” he added.
Montenegro noted that “over the past ten years, only 100 vehicles had been acquired for INEM, at a total cost of €4.2 million”.
“In other words, in ten years, only a quarter of what this Government decided to invest yesterday was spent. We are solving a chronic problem and reversing a lack of investment which we inherited, with clear and serious consequences,” he argued, promising “structural and transformative reforms in other essential areas” throughout this year.
This week alone, at least three people have died after calling INEM for help and emergency services failed to arrive in time. INEM has opened an internal audit but has rejected responsibility, once again pointing to a lack of resources and to ambulances being delayed at hospitals due to the shortage of available stretchers.
Source: LUSA
