Ministry of Health ignored warnings and did not report inem of strike that created chaos in care

The inspection that analyzed the impact of the emergency technicians’ strike in November concluded that INEM was prevented from defining the minimum services because it did not receive the Ministry of Health the pre-advisors of the unions.

The Ministry of Health ignored warnings and did not report inem of strike that created chaos in care in November last year, in a week when About 10 people waited for the ambulance died.

The conclusion is the preliminary report of the General Inspection of Health Activities (IGAS) released on Wednesday, which states that INEM “did not receive the communication of pre-advisors of the general strikes called for October 31 and November 4”.

In INEM, only the preview of the strike to the overtime convened by the Union of Prehospital Emergency Technicians (Steph) union (Steph).

Already the Previsors of Strikes of the civil service for October 31st and November 4th “were not communicated directly to INEMbut to the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Health (SGMS) and the offices of members of the government (who, in the case of health, referred them to SGMS on October 24 ”.

In this sense, “unaware of the details of them as to the type and duration of strikes, as well as the minimum services proposed, The possibility of any contestation of the minimum services aimed at its negotiation was unfeasible”.

Regarding the general strikes and the operationalization of minimum services, Igas states that INEM was only aware of the stoppage of 31 October on the day, and 80% of scaled workers were reached.

Already in the strike of November 4, although unable to define the minimum services, these were not met in the afternoon, between 16h00 and 24h00.

Igas also states that following the “first signs of activity degradation, on November 4, contingency measures were triggered that properly revealed themselves” and two days later, on 6 November, the INEM Board of Directors decided “actions that stabilized the functioning of the Urgent Patient Guidance Centers).

These actions “allowed to comply with procedural weaknesses” in the planning of the public function general strike of 6 December.

The Preliminary Report of IGAS, which will also be sent to the entities involved for the exercise of the contradictory, recognizes the existence of several “pre-existing constraints” in the activity of INEM at the level of human resources scarcity, namely in CODO and the high weight of supplementary work to ensure normal activity.

Political responsibilities?

The PS Secretary-General, Pedro Nuno Santosargued that the preliminary report of Igas reinforces the suspicion of “political responsibilities” of the Ministry health failures in INEM.

The socialist leader wrote in the X that, “to confirm” this impediment of INEM to define minimal services because it did not receive the pre-bids of the unions, “is something that is the most severity.”