Health policy expert Rui Nunes believes Portugal has 'a good health system and excellent professionals', but that 'care integration and coordination simply do not work'. Regarding doubts raised by Civil Protection about the 'legality' of the support task force for INEM carried out by the firefighters, he says it is not 'appropriate to call into question an attempt at a solution to save lives'.
Support task force for INEM: 'If there are doubts about legality, then legal means should be sought'
Monday, 12 January 2026RSS
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Context & Explainers
The National Institute of Medical Emergency (Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica), known as INEM, coordinates Portugal’s pre-hospital emergency care, ambulance dispatch and medical response to 112 calls. It matters to expats because INEM is responsible for ambulance response times and on-scene care — incidents like the reported three-hour wait in Seixal can trigger investigations, affect public confidence and influence how quickly you can expect help in an emergency.
