INEM’s ‘troubles’ centre on controversial contracts
The government’s issues with INEM, Portugal’s Institute for Medical Emergency, hit a new bend in the road this week when Vítor Almeida, the 58-year-old health professional nominated to take the place of outgoing president Luís Meira, decided he couldn’t work with the ministry of health either.
The root cause of all the upset is the government’s approach to INEM’s strategy for emergency helicopter cover. It is a strategy that has been ‘controversial’ for some time, due to pilots’ complaints about managing company Avincis. INEM launched a tender for new managers in January, but it resulted in only two bids – both breaking INEM’s budget. Thus the decision was made to continue the contract with Avincis, even though it doesn’t allow for full nighttime helicopter cover. Both the government, and the Accounts Court, have said this isn’t good enough (the latter because INEM should not have extended a ‘direct contract’) – and as a result of the impasse, former president Luís Meira ‘resigned’, saying he had lost confidence in the hierarchy.
Vítor Almeida was nominated to take Meira’s place little more than a week ago, and now he too has concluded “that the conditions to assume the presidency of INEM have not been met, both professionally and in the current context of the institute”.
Reports refer equally to the health ministry’s decision to undertake an administrative and financial audit of INEM, “to try and understand exactly various processes”, including contracts for ambulances and other ‘directly awarded’ business (not put out to public tender).
The government has wasted no time in finding a new name for the post: Sérgio Dias, 43, a doctor in the Armed Forces (with the rank of lieutenant-colonel) and an impressive track record which includes experience in advanced trauma life support and medical response to major incidents.
STEPH, meantime, (the union of pre-hospital emergency technicians, working at INEM), has said that all this to-ing and fro-ing has not helped workers “feeling secure in a certain future” – and that what INEM needs right now is stability. STEPH also recalls that it has demands, and these have not been met. The unions demands centre on a review of career structures/ pay adjustments and a strategy to make working at INEM more attractive.
natasha.donn@portugalresident.com
