INEM's Technicians Call Off Their 14 and 28 September Strikes After Fifty-Six Ambulances Are Left Where They Are

The strike that would have hit Portugal's emergency medical service on 14 and 28 September is off. The Sindicato dos Técnicos de Emergência Pré-Hospitalar called it off on Friday evening after a meeting at the Health Ministry that ran for about four hours, with Health Minister Ana Paula Martins and INEM's president, Luís Cabral, both in the room.

The union's president, Rui Lázaro, told reporters on the way out that an agreement had been reached "with the Government and with INEM that allows not only the current emergency medical response to be maintained, but assumes commitments to reinforce it". Asked whether it is easier to talk to INEM's president with the minister present, he answered: "Without any doubt."

The Fifty-Six Ambulances Stay Where They Are

The central concession is about the ambulâncias de emergência médica, the basic INEM ambulances that answer 112 calls. According to Lázaro, it was agreed that the allocation plan for 56 of them remains exactly as it stands today, with the vehicles assigned in full to pre-hospital assistance for the public.

There is one carve-out. In specific cases local health units may still ask for a vehicle to carry out a transfer, and in that situation, the union says, INEM will send one of its less differentiated ambulances instead. That was the reassignment the technicians had spent the summer resisting, on the argument that an ambulance moved to hospital transport duty is an ambulance not available for an emergency.

Forty-Six Conversions Become a Pilot of Fifteen

The second dispute concerned INEM's plan to convert 46 Suporte Imediato de Vida ambulances, the nurse-crewed SIV vehicles, into lighter cars. What was agreed instead is a pilot covering 15 of them.

Of those 15, five are new vehicles and need no conversion at all, in Lázaro's words they "require nothing". For the remaining 10, and specifically to avoid any loss of patient-transport capacity, an emergency medical ambulance will be stationed at each of those locations. At least five of those 10 will be INEM's own ambulances crewed by INEM staff, with preference given to districts that currently have none.

The union also said the agreement widens the network of emergency medical posts, both with partner ambulances and inside INEM's own fleet, which Lázaro called a "very important" measure because it produces "an even more robust response".

How the Dispute Got Here

The conversion plan surfaced in July, when INEM proposed transferring ambulances to hospital units and converting the 46 life-support vehicles, a package its unions described as a dismantling. The technicians called the two September strikes in August, and a round of talks at the ministry on 26 August closed without a deal, leaving both strike dates standing.

Lázaro said there were "concessions on both sides" and singled out the Health Minister's role in reaching the understanding. He did not release a written text of the agreement on Friday, and the commitments on new posts and on INEM-crewed ambulances are the kind that only become verifiable when the vehicles appear in specific districts.

What This Means for Residents

• Emergency cover: There will be no strike-day gap in 112 emergency response on 14 or 28 September, the two dates that had been notified.
• Hospital transfers: If a local health unit needs to move a patient, an emergency ambulance may still be requested, but the union says the vehicle sent will be a less differentiated one, not one of the 56.
• Where you live matters: The promise to prioritise districts with no INEM-crewed ambulance is the part of the deal most likely to change response times outside the metropolitan areas.
• Watch the pilot: Fifteen SIV conversions is a test, not a settlement. If the pilot is judged a success, the other 31 vehicles return to the agenda.

Separately, Parliament's own inquiry into INEM has stopped its clock until 30 November while it waits for documents it requested, so the political examination of the service continues regardless of what the union and the ministry have now signed.