A few dozen Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians (TEPH) gathered this Wednesday in front of Parliament at the beginning of an overtime strike to demand a review of their career and better salary conditions.

With posters placed next to the steps of Parliament with phrases such as “Minister, do you want TEPH first? Check out our career”, “We saved the Medical Emergency” or “We saved lives at five euros an hour”The technicians shouted “respect” and asked the deputies to attend to their demands.

In statements to journalists, the president of the Union of Prehospital Emergency Technicians (STEPH), Rui Lázaro, criticizes the lack of response and warns of the risks that this strike will cause to the services of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM).

According to the union leader, the protest that begins this Wednesday “It is an endless strike, which will only end when no solutions are presented to us, which must involve evaluating the pre-hospital emergency technical career. and also due to the increase in their remuneration index.”

This “is a problem that has already happened from the previous government to the current one” and the union has already been received by the PSD/CDS executive.

“Six months after taking office, the only answer they gave us was that they would eventually review our career in 2025,” said Rui Lázaro.

Given this response, the union considers that it was “clearly pushed to these protest actions,” which include the demonstration and an overtime strike that began this Wednesday and will continue until its presentation. “the effective solutions” that professionals have been “waiting for so long.”

According to the director, “the vast majority of INEM technicians reach the maximum limit of overtime that they can perform” and “it is not enough to guarantee the operation of all medical emergency means.”

That’s why”“There are emergency medical facilities closed daily due to lack of technicians or emergency center service stations empty, causing delays in call response on a daily basis.”.

Rui Lázaro admits to being “It is expected that, with this strike, these limitations will worsen”.

“But obviously we are available to suppress or move towards lifting the strike, if the Government decides to present us with the solutions that are taking a long time to be presented,” he added.

The base salary is 920 euros, not very attractive. hire new personnel, as demonstrated by the successive vacant competitions, explained Rui Lázaro, highlighting that the departure of technicians has been a constant, with eight dozen of them leaving INEM alone in 2023.

The result is the lack of sufficient personnel to cover the needs of the country, with only 721 members when the planned workforce is 1,480 technicians.

Compared to other countries, where these technicians are integrated into paramedic careers, Rui Lázaro regrets the lack of attention to a “problem that costs lives.”

The model in Portugal is causing asymmetries between the big cities and the rest of the country, where there are not enough technicians

For the leader, The system is “dysfunctional”, with “only 15% of medical emergencies are guaranteed by emergency medical technicians” from INEM, while the rest is ensured by partners. (firefighters or Red Cross), who no longer have access to the same training and qualifications.

The protest occurs on the day that the discussion of the State Budget begins in the Assembly of the Republic and the union has tried to raise awareness among the parties about the problem.

In the strike notice, to which Lusa had access, STEPH reports that, since the strike only covers overtime, it does not consider that there is room for minimum services, since “all urgent and emergent work, during normal working hours, “It will continue to be guaranteed in all shifts.”

INEM salaries are an example of a strategy to dismantle the SNS, according to Mariana Mortágua

The coordinator of the Left Bloc said this Wednesday that the lack of investment in careers such as technicians at the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) reflects a government strategy to dismantle public health services.

Joining the demonstration of Prehospital Emergency Technicians (TEPH) with whom she expressed solidarity, Mariana Mortágua considered the claims of these professionals to be fair, who began an indefinite overtime strike this Wednesday.

“The problem is obvious to anyone who wants to see it.r. The INEM should have more than 1,000 workers and it has 700 and the reason is very simple, it cannot attract people to work because it pays very little, a base salary of 920 euros and, therefore, in this structure the same thing is happening that is happening. in other special races in the State,” he said.

“This government decision to freeze the number of state workers is irresponsible and has concrete consequences. like the one we are seeing here. “The only way to solve this problem is to pay people a living wage and attract professionals to the career.”

According to Mariana Mortágua, “The Government’s plan is becoming very clear. He found palliatives, he found small patches to resolve specific situations, but he did not structurally solve these problems.”He simply found a short-term measure for the State budget and abandoned a series of professions, conditioning everyone’s future with the absurd decision to freeze the number of public employees.”

“The PSD talks about the SNS at the same time that it has a plan, as it admitted, which consists of gradually transferring the services of the SNS and public health in Portugal to private services. For this to happen, the SNS will be dismantled and one of the ways to dismantle it is to disinvest in it,” considered the leader, who promised to bring this issue to the budget debate that begins this Wednesday.

“This is the budget for the PSD program and we rejected this program from the beginning,” but “parliamentary democracy exists and, due to the different voting configurations in parliament, it is always possible to approve measures,” he added.

Also received by the protesters, Leader of the PAN, Inês Sousa Realexpressed his solidarity and promised to also propose the TEPH demands in the budget debate.

“We have to get out of the propaganda government, we have to guarantee that the budget surplus goes to those who need it and the valorization of essential careers,” he stated.

“It makes no sense to us that during the pandemic we were asking for applause for health professionals and in all subsequent budgets there was no effort from successive governments, PS and PSD, to respond to these careers,” he stated, including these as well. the nutritional needs of auxiliary health and diagnostic technicians.

Chega, IL and Livre available to articulate proposals for increases for INEM technicians

Deputies from Chega, IL and Livre were available this Wednesday to articulate proposals that respond to the demands of the Prehospital Emergency Technicians (TEPH) who began an overtime strike to demand a review of their careers and salary increases.

Representatives of the three parties were received by protesters gathered this Wednesday on the steps of Parliament, the day the budget debate begins, and admitted to having negotiated proposals that bring together the opposition parties to respond to the demands of the technicians of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies. (INEM).

The PCP, which also met with the protesters, said it will include in the budget specialty debate the increases requested by the technicians in its package of proposals, promising to fight for their initiatives.

Chega deputy Rui Cristina, party coordinator on the Health Commission, considered the low salary of technicians “inadmissible” and stated that the parliamentary group will present a proposal this week to improve TEPH careers.

“How can we attract professionals by paying them so little and not having career progression as they should be? This government came into office nine months ago, but the excuses are running out,” said the deputy.

Regarding the possibility of articulation, Rui Cristina said that Chega is available for a platform of understanding: “in Chega’s parliamentary group we always look at the proposals and we do not look at which party they come from, what matters to us is that the proposals comply with what what we want to achieve.”

Mário Amorim Lopes, from the Liberal Initiative, considered the demands of the INEM technicians “more than legitimate and more than fair,” highlighting that “the State cannot be an employment exchange where everyone can work, but those who work in the State must have fair conditions and remuneration that values ​​and dignifies what they do.”

“These pre-hospital emergency technicians receive little more than minimum wage for very difficult, arduous and often open-ended work.” and “it is the men and women who cross our path when we really need it,” recalled the IL deputy, who admitted to having presented his own proposal or followed the initiatives of others.

“If IL does anything, it is to be non-sectarian and we will talk to everyone and we must always work together,” especially because “this issue, in particular, should bring us all together, there is no ideological discussion.” division here,” he said.

Paulo Muacho, from Livre, recognized the “justice of the fight” and admitted that it is a problem that has come from several governmentsbut that “it does not depend directly on the State Budget and an authorization from the minister is enough to review these careers.”

“We are going to present specialized measures in the State budget and we hope that the parties follow them, especially because there are several parties that are present here and there have to be consequences of that solidarity that is expressed,” said Muacho.

“There is certainly room for the approval of these proposals, Livre is available to approve the proposals of other parties and the other parties are certainly available to approve Livre’s proposals,” he summarized, recalling that “the Government does not have an absolute majority in the Parliament”. ”.

From the PCP, parliamentary leader Paula Santos considered that “these are urgent issues, because they are essential workers to help the population” and that there are “relief resources that are not available” due to lack of personnel.

“The lack of technicians is evident. If these means are not guaranteed, what is at stake is assistance to the population.”he added.

“The Government has not yet said anything about this matter,” criticized Paula Santos, highlighting that the PCP will include the issue in the package of proposals for discussion in the specialty.

“We have already advanced and made public a series of proposals that we will present, naturally it is up to the other parties to take a position” on the PCP’s initiatives, but “we will not stop intervening and fighting for them because we consider that they are necessary to solve the problems of the people’s lives,” he said.