The Government will reopen the Regional Directorate of the Algarve of the National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM) and return to the region the skills that had been lost in 2012, including a fully operational Guidance Center for Urgent Patients (CODU).
Secretary of State for Health Manuel Delgado was yesterday at INEM's central facilities in the region, located at the Algarve Region Supply Market (MARF), in Faro, and announced that the procedure for returning to the institute's Algarvian delegation the importance of yesteryear will already be set in motion and should be completed "in early 2017".
This is good news for the region, not only because it «returns a service that is closer to the Algarve and increases the security of the population», but also because it means the creation of jobs – many of which were lost about 4 years ago. – and investment.
«Three types of investments are planned here: People, equipment and vehicles. In 2017, we want to invest in new vehicles, whether in ambulances or in Emergency and Resuscitation Medical Vehicles (VMER). As we could see here at the [INEM car park at MARF], there is already at least one vehicle from 2016 here, but we want to continue to refresh the equipment available to help people», said Manuel Delgado.
"On the other hand, the fact that we endow this regional delegation with operational autonomy will allow us to reinforce some components in terms of human resources", added the member of Government.
A decision applauded by the President of the Board of Directors of INEM Luís Meira, who has no doubts that the closing of the regional directorate, in 2012, by decision of the previous Government, was «a mistake».
«What has to be done is to reverse what I consider to be a bad decision, that of closing the Algarve's regional directorate. At the time, the objective was that we no longer have facilities here. We would continue with resources, as in other regions, but without there being a training center, or a Guidance Center for Urgent Patients, which today maintains a residual activity and needs to be revitalized», defended Luis Meira.
“This measure will also allow us, possibly resorting to human resources in the region, to support the other CODU [there are three more in the country], who are currently under great tension. With a fourth CODU fully functioning, we will have a much greater response capacity», guaranteed the INEM president.
In practical terms, the big difference will be the amount of personnel assigned to this triage and emergency medical response coordination service. As the delegation presided over by the Secretary of State for Health was able to verify, in the large room of the CODU of Faro only one operator was working, when there are stations equipped for at least a dozen.
This causes problems. «With the extinction of the Regional Directorate, we lost decision-making capacity. For example, let's imagine that there is an event that needs coordination at the level of INEM's leaders. We will have some difficulty in quickly getting someone here», exemplified Luis Meira.
This is a scenario that the INEM president hopes to see changed very soon. «What we already had, before 2012, were seven jobs working here at CODU, with doctors, operators and support from psychologists. At the moment, what we have is simply the activation phase of means, which is ensured by one or two operators», he illustrated. The idea is to “return to the previous situation”.
Reinforced Basic Life Support Training in the Algarve
The reopening of INEM's Regional Directorate for the Algarve was the central theme of Manuel Delgado's visit yesterday to the institute's facilities, at MARF, but it was not what brought the member of Government there. The Secretary of State for Health was at the site to sponsor the signing of a protocol between INEM and the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve, which will allow this second entity to provide training in Basic Life Support and Automatic External Defibrillation.
This delegation of powers is, even so, linked to the reaffirmation of the importance of INEM Algarve, at national level. In the institute's modern facilities in Faro there is a training center, which is now also used by the ARS.
«This protocol intends to accredit ARS do Algarve so that it can carry out this training itself. Basically, it is about enabling the resources that exist in the ARS so that they can also carry out this type of actions and that it is not just INEM to use the existing center, improving the skills of professionals in the region», illustrated Luis Meira.
The president of the Algarve ARS João Moura Reis pointed out that this protocol will allow for joint work between the two entities, «with a view to making the Algarve destination safer», since it is planned that specific training can be given to private entities, such as hotels and beyond, in these areas, under another protocol, signed with the Algarve Tourism Region.
On the other hand, stressed Moura Reis, this will allow ARS do Algarve and INEM «to start working together, something that is fundamental within the health services and in a region that turns out to be the mirror of Portugal and has very great economic value. ».
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