In an example of everything that is wrong with decision-making when it comes to the nation’s healthcare cover, the Civil Protection agency has announced that it is opening an investigation into the ambulance task force created by the League of Portuguese Firefighters (LBP), because it considers it ‘illegal’.
The league – and various fire stations – announced the task force for this current weekend.
The league made the announcement without explaining ‘why’: it simply stated that seven ambulances from the fire stations around the capital: Ajuda, Arruda dos Vinhos, Cabo Ruivo, Camarate, Cascais, Dafundo and Paço de Arcos would be “operating a regime of additional ambulances, from 8am to 8pm”, on Saturday and Sunday – under a firefighters league central command. It was left to individual fire stations to cite the “recent and lamentable delays” in ambulances attending calls (which have seen reports of at least three deaths, all now being ‘investigated’ to gauge the responsibility, or otherwise, of their tardy response).
In the words of Camarate firefighters, posting over social media: “We are on the ground (…) to guarantee that failings in the system do not compromise the lives of our citizens”.
But instead of welcoming this dynamic show of solidarity, ANEPC (the National Emergency and Civil Protection authority) has sent a statement to state news agency Lusa to say it is opening an investigation because it considers the league’s decision-making to be ‘illegal’ and ‘marginally created’.
Says Lusa, Civil Protection considers the ambulance reinforcement “appears to violate the principles and assumptions of the integrated protection and rescue system, as well as the competences of ANEPC”.
In short, the government entity sees the firefighters’ initiative “as a parallel system, without any legal framework”.
ANEPC’s ire appears also to be related to the way in which the league’s initiative came to the agency’s notice. Says Lusa, “they learned about this ambulance reinforcement through social media, and (…) are unaware of the rationale behind its creation or its organisation”.
As ANEPC stressed, incidents recorded within the scope of the league’s reinforcement cannot be activated or coordinated by the national command, or the sub-regional command of Greater Lisbon. The league has not responded yet to these criticisms, but it is clear that firefighters intend to keep their reinforcement ‘separate’ from the shambles that has filled the news since the middle of last week.
Lusa concludes its story on ANEPC’s intended ‘investigation’ stressing the agency sees the league’s reinforcement as “a distortion of the system, not increasing its capacity in any way”.
Camarate fire station would almost certainly disagree.
Posting on Facebook last night, the fire station reported that: “throughout today, the headquarters of the Portuguese Firefighters League (LBP) served as the operational base for a strategic Pre-Hospital Task Force, created at the suggestion of several Commanders to the LBP.
“Between 8am and 8pm, the unit ensured a robust response at critical moments, having been called to a total of eight incidents.
“This special force, composed of ambulances from the Camarate, Ajuda, Arruda dos Vinhos, Cabo Ruivo, Cascais, Dafundo and Paço de Arcos fire departments, was designed to act as a last line of response, springing into action whenever the usual resources, both from INEM and the fire departments, were unavailable or exhausted.
“It should be noted that all crews were composed entirely of volunteer firefighters. These operatives, driven solely by a spirit of mission and total selflessness, without any form of remuneration, gave up their personal time to ensure that assistance to the population was never lacking.
“This initiative demonstrates, once again, that volunteer firefighters continue to be the pillar of protection and rescue in Portugal.”
ANEPC may try, but it is very difficult to argue with that last statement. Instead of falling back on excuses for inadequate ambulance response, the League of Portuguese Firefighters found a way to ensure people are not left hanging (or even dying).
Source: Lusa/ Facebook
