Death during strike. INEM: failure should not be singled out

The president of INEM (National Institute of Emergency Medicine) believes that the death of a man in Pombal during the institute's strike, which led to disciplinary proceedings against a pre-hospital emergency technician and a doctor, is a failure that "cannot be singled out individually." In an interview with Público newspaper , Sérgio Janeiro emphasizes that it was a day marked by "communication and call routing problems" and that everything "contributed to the service not operating normally."

The General Inspectorate of Health Activities (IGAS) concluded that the death of the 53-year-old man, a resident of Pombal, "could have been avoided if emergency assistance had been provided within a reasonable timeframe." The report also highlighted possible errors by a pre-hospital emergency technician and a doctor, leaving it up to the INEM (National Institute of Emergency Medicine) to initiate disciplinary proceedings to determine responsibility.

IGAS confirms one death due to delay in providing assistance during INEM strike

According to the president of INEM, who is currently acting as a substitute and one of three candidates considered by the Ministry of Health to lead the institution, the disciplinary proceedings are still under investigation. "It is important to emphasize again that the initiation of these disciplinary proceedings does not constitute a presumption of guilt. Because, as reflected in the report, there were also delays in the roll call, which are beyond INEM's control," he stated. "Any possible failure that may have occurred on what was an atypical day must be contextualized, in which those who reported for work did so with enormous sacrifice and worked under very adverse conditions," he added.

When asked about the Ministry of Health's position, which, based on the IGAS report, highlighted alleged "individual behavior" and "lack of diligence" as the cause, he noted that what happened on that "very atypical" day is still being investigated. "The impact of the strike was disproportionate to the absence of human resources. And it's important to remember that minimum services were met for the vast majority of the day. And it was in meeting these minimum services that the greatest constraints emerged," he noted.

"In addition to the strike, there were also other communication and call routing issues, which, combined with the acknowledged lack of motivation among professionals... in short, everything on this day contributed to the service not operating normally. I therefore believe we shouldn't try to single out one failure. They all need to be addressed, but from a constructive perspective," he emphasized.