According to the subscribers, the medical emergency is not an improvisational exercise, nor “a space for ideological experimentation, but a domain of rigor, science and public responsibility”.
“The Portuguese model of medical emergency, based on integrated and supervised doctor-nurse teams, is what best serves patients and guarantees quality, safety and equity in the response”, they argued.
According to the VMER coordinators, “the literature is clear” and points out that “medicalized assistance saves more lives and reduces sequelae”, has a higher survival rate after cardiorespiratory arrest (35.6% versus 9–12%), better pain control and faster hemodynamic and respiratory stabilization.
“Conclusion: Replacing this mature and differentiated model with undifferentiated alternatives, imported from realities foreign to our clinical culture and our system, would be a serious error, paid for in lives”, they highlighted.
The VMER coordinators also demonstrate “unequivocal support” for a joint proposal from the Order of Doctors and the Order of Nurses, dated October 14, 2025, in which proposals are presented to reinforce the three existing levels of support, strengthen urgent patient guidance centers (CODU) and invest in accredited and continuous training.
“The SIEM is a collective achievement — a model that combines speed with competence, decision with humanity. It is a technical and moral heritage that must be preserved and strengthened. Dismantling it would be a historic setback. What is required is to invest in training, value the teams, consolidate the role of INEM and preserve the doctor-nurse matrix that distinguishes it and makes it exemplary”, they concluded.
On Friday, a source from the Ministry of Health confirmed the replacement of the president of INEM, Sérgio Janeiro, as part of the competition for president of INEM opened in January this year, but did not want to say who his successor would be.
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