The National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) invoked this Saturday (18) the “need for budgetary reinforcement” to justify the existence of debts owed to firefighters for the pre-hospital assistance provided by the corporations, ensuring that they are available for dialogue.
“INEM recognizes the existence of amounts being regularized within the scope of the execution of the agreement with its partners, a situation that arises from the need to reinforce the Institute’s budget, which will be resolved through the ongoing organic review“, confirmed, in a clarification sent to Lusa, the organization.
The National Council of the League of Portuguese Firefighters (LBP) unanimously approved this Saturday the termination of the cooperation agreement signed in 2025 with INEM for the provision of pre-hospital assistance, the organization’s president announced, specifying that the amount owed to the fire brigades is “around 20 million euros”.
“The issue is not the value, it is the breach of the contract”, António Nunes said, speaking to Lusa.
In the note, INEM does not confirm the amount referred to by LBP, but assures “that payments are closed until January of this year” and that, in relation to February, one component is paid and the other “in processing next week”.
“As for the agreement for 2026, although an understanding has been reached, it is not possible to apply it immediately, within the current financing framework, under penalty of worsening the situation for all partners”, adds INEM.
According to Antonio Nunes, with the termination of the agreement, INEM will, within 120 days, “have to negotiate with each of the humanitarian associations” of firefighters the amount to be paid for the provision of pre-hospital assistance, when at the moment this is the same for all.
Asked whether the LBP would admit to going back if INEM started to respect the protocol, the president of the League replied that he was available to “negotiate a new agreement”, in which it would be “explicit and clear” what would happen in the event of non-compliance by the Institute, as is already the case with corporations.
“INEM remains available for dialogue with the LBP, with a view to overcoming the situation and ensuring the continuity of the pre-hospital medical emergency response, within the firefighters, as has been provided to the population until now”, concludes the Institute in the statement.
The protocol in question was signed between INEM and LBP on February 28, 2025 and, among other aspects, involved an increase of two thousand euros per month, from 6,690 to 8,690 euros, in the subsidy paid to fire brigades.
“The main objective of this agreement is to make this collaboration between INEM and partners, namely the Portuguese fire departments, sustainable, and also more flexible and easier to manage”, highlighted at the time, in statements to Lusa, the then president of the Institute, Sérgio Janeiro.
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