The helicopters that the Ministry of Defense will acquire will, according to the newspaper Expresso, be suitable for “medical evacuation” missions. but Not for missionsmedical emergency”. A table published by Nuno Melo estrará, second specialists, “poorly done”.
O defense minister defendedon SIC Notícias, that thes helicopters Black Hawkwhich the Government intends to buy to reinforce the aid, are an “excellent” choice. But, , the concepts of “medical emergency” and “medical evacuation” have been confused and there is a mix of aircraft na table what Nuno Melo presented.
According to Expresso, the aircraft assessment framework that was published by the minister on social media mixes heavy transport aircraft with medium and light helicopters. The newspaper refere that nto the is concerned “medical emergency”, as Nuno Melo announced in Parliament. Essas are missions emergency assistance and transport of trauma victims from an accident site to a hospital – classified as unsuitable for Black Hawk.
Instead, what the Black Hawk can dor well and “medical evacuation”, one other type of mission e that can be done by someone elseas aircraft. And that’s what the document of the Government seems to evaluate.
When he was in Parliament this week, the Minister of Defense stated that the four helicopters Black Hawk that will be purchased would be another means for “medical emergency actions”, and not missions “medical evacuation”which concerns, in a more comprehensive way, the transport of patients and medical teams, but not in emergency situations primary.
“Poorly made” table
Expresso says it has confirmed with several sources that the Black Hawk are not suitable for this type of emergency service – what but admitting that “There are no aircraft suitable for all circumstances.” According to experts interviewed by the weekly, the table discloseda for the ruler this “poorly done”, because it compares heavy transport aircraft, such as the C-130 or KC390, with heavy helicopters (EH-101), medium ones such as Black Hawk and light, like Koala.
“The C1-30 and KC390 don’t land in hospitals. But from the table they are excellent”declares one of the experts mentioned. “There is not a single Black Hawk carrying out medical emergencies around the world”, says another.
o president of the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians, Rui Lázaro, argued that “the weight, dimensions and the time it takes to take off mean that this model announced by the Minister of Defense is not, in fact, suitable for medical emergencies”.
“The choice of this model is incomprehensible. Let’s hope it has a use other than medical emergencies”, concluded.
Os four helicopters Black Hawk they go costsr 32 million of eurosfinanced by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), e he mustfrog be delivered by August 2026.
