Portugal’s medical emergency institute (INEM) has admitted that emergency calls have been left on hold for between 10 and 15 minutes recently due to an “increase in the number of calls” related to the heat and a “significant lack of technicians” answering the calls.
Thus, INEM urges citizens to only use the 112 national emergency hotline for “serious situations” or when people’s “lives are in danger.” For less urgent situations, citizens should use the SNS 24 (808 24 24 24) hotline.
