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An investigation was opened to determine the causes of the vehicle’s shutdown, which was locked from the inside and the key was hundreds of kilometers away.
According to reports this Friday, an ambulance from Santa Maria Hospital was unable to provide assistance.
The emergency and resuscitation medical vehicle (VMER) at the country’s largest hospital, in Lisbon, did not even have the opportunity to move at the time of the accident that left 16 dead in September. This is because the vehicle was locked from the inside and the replacement key was in the Algarve.
Now, Lusa advances, the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians will request an investigation to determine the causes that prevented the mobilization of the vehicle medical emergency department at Santa Maria Hospital for the accident with the Glória elevator.
“We will immediately ask the president of INEM for an investigation to determine the circumstances of what happened”, said the union president today.
According to the newspaper, the vehicle “ndid not respond to INEM because it was locked from the inside and the spare key was in the Algarve”.
“It is unacceptable that a medical emergency service cannot respond to an emergency due to inaccessibility to the vehicle key”, highlighted the president of the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians (STEPH).
Rui Lázaro said that It is important to determine whether it was a “damage or negligence that caused the vehicle to be locked with the key inside”, but also the reasons why the spare key “did not accompany the vehicle to the base where it was used”.
“The lack of procedures aimed at preventing cases like this is neglecting the response to citizens, which we can’t admit”, highlighted the union leader.
