"If political insensitivity paid taxes, the president of INEM would have a high bill." The words are from the PSD/Algarve, which, in a statement, accuses the top director of that service, Miguel Soares de Oliveira, of having failed “to respect the Algarve and its local elected representatives during his hearing at the Health Committee of the Assembly of the Republic, stating that “it cannot allow the mayors themselves to choose the helicopters they want”».
All this happened following a question that was addressed to her by the Algarve deputy of the PSD Elsa Cordeiro, who wanted to know the status of the INEM helicopter parked at the heliport of Loulé.
In light of the statements made by Miguel Soares de Oliveira, the PSD/Algarve says that it "outright refuses the removal of the INEM helicopter in the Algarve" and calls on Health Minister Paulo Macedo to "come to the ground and intercede in this case, to take a position on the matter, putting an end to it and guaranteeing the permanence of this equipment in the region».
In her interpellation to the Health Committee of the Assembly of the Republic, parliamentarian Elsa Cordeiro had begun by saying that she understood «the need for efficiency gains and cost reduction in national medical emergency services», but wanted to clarify «the reasons for having opted to transfer the helicopter to the district of Beja instead of Loulé, when the prevalence of occurrences in the Algarve is 87% and 11% in Alentejo».
The PSD/Algarve underlines, in its statement, that, "in an attitude to say the least" the president of INEM, "in addition to attacking the mayors of this region, devalued the statistics stating that they "have this juggling act, since it is natural that an air means that provides services in the Algarve region has a prevalence of services in the Algarve to the detriment of other regions and that, for example, the Lisbon helicopter 50% of its activity was in the Alentejo”».
Miguel Soares de Oliveira, in response to deputy Elsa Cordeiro, also reported that the one managing the Kamov helicopters is EMA – Empresa de Meios Aéreos, SA., which has its plans to place helicopters, which are also used in the search and rescue on the seafront, so it is natural to choose its location in the Algarve.
As for the removal of the current helicopter that has been parked in Loulé since October 6, 2012, the INEM leader informed that it will be removed as soon as the Kamov helicopter becomes operational, add the Algarve Social Democrats.
"Given the various advances and setbacks that this process had", the PSD/Algarve argues that "it is important that all clarifications are provided on the factors that were taken into account in this decision".
The Social Democrats are still questioning whether "is the Kamov helicopter enabled to transport patients?", whether the aircraft can "make a safe landing at the Hospital in Faro and the competent entities, namely the Portuguese Air Force, agree with this option?" and if «is the Kamov helicopter the most suitable for rescue operations that require agility and speed of action?».
For the Algarve PSD, "this is a difficult process to understand and it is at least strange that news related to economic interests associated with this matter arises". “If the State has air capacity (there are more agile and versatile helicopters – PUMA – stationary) why is it still hostage to astronomical rentals to meet its needs?”, he also asks.
«After having irresponsibly emptied the structures of INEM in the Algarve, the president of INEM is again attacking this region with this decision that clearly harms the population of the Algarve as well as a bad sign for the main economic activity in the region, Tourism» , conclude the Social Democrats.
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