During the pre-hospital emergency technicians’ strike, between October 30 and November 4, 2024, 12 deaths were recorded, three of them associated with delays in assistance, according to the General Inspection of Health Activities (IGAS).
The president of INEM considered this Tuesday that there was “a serious ethical failure” during the strike of pre-hospital emergency technicians (TEPH) in 2024, stating that the institute “purely and simply stopped answering calls”.
“I have already made these statements, I was once criticized for this, but I think (…) there was a serious ethical error”highlighted Luís Mendes Cabral in the parliamentary commission of inquiry (CPI) into the to determine responsibilities during the strike at the end of 2024 and the relationship between political guardianships and the institute since 2019.
The person responsible also reinforced that in the There are limits in the health sector that cannot be exceededregardless of labor demands.
“Professions in the health sector know that despite fair demands they must not exceed certain limits, under penalty of harming those who trust us and have no alternative”, he highlighted.
Luís Mendes Cabral stressed, however, that this assessment corresponds to his personal reading as a doctor and manager at the timeand not to INEM’s current institutional position: “It’s the reading I do as Luís Cabral in 2024 in the Azores looking at what the INEM strike was”, he concluded.
12 people died during the 2024 strike
The president of INEM, who at the time worked in the Azores, said he had followed the events “with deep sadness”: “On that specific day, INEM simply stopped answering calls”he stressed.
The president of INEM highlighted that the problem was not structuralas the system “returned to working as it had worked until then” in the following days. For Luís Mendes Cabral, this demonstrates that there was a determining external factor.
“There was an external decision made by INEM on that day, so that on that specific day things would happen as they happened”, he added.
He said that, at the time, there was a “wrong assumption” that everyone assumed that there was a deontological duty of the class to always safeguard minimum services, adding that “there was a too excessive confidence in what were the ethical prerogatives of workers (…) there must be a minimum number of people providing services at CODU”.
What if there was a similar strike in 2026?
Questioned by deputies, he assured that if there were an identical strike at this time “it wouldn’t have the same consequences”and explained: “even the the first thing I decided was that there would be a determination of minimum services”.
“The class itself (…) was uncomfortable with the issue and will respond more ethically in a subsequent situation,” he stated.
Regarding the measures taken to ensure that a future strike does not have consequences identical to those of 2024, Luis Cabral referred to the increase in the ratio of professionals in CODU to provide assistance, the reffort with ambulance contractings with the firefighters, as well as the increase in Emergency Medical Stations (PEM).
“And care at CODU will not be solely and exclusively provided by TEPH. There are alternatives to safeguard, if necessary”, he added.
As for the protocols that pre-hospital emergency technicians (TEPH) expected to see already applied, after the guarantees they received from the Ministry of Health, said that the intravenous administration of medication implies a medical prescription and, in the current regulatory framework, “implies that the administration is carried out by the nurse”.
“It is not possible to ask someone to perform functions for which at the moment in Portugal it is necessary to complete a four-year degree, without completing a four-year degree”, he said.
CPI was approved last year
The focus includes INEM’s actions during the strike at the end of October and beginning of November 2024 and the relationship between political guardianships and the institute since 2019.
