Caxito – Angola’s National Institute for Medical Emergencies (INEMA) needs at least 2,340 new technicians to reinforce staff and improve assistance, its director general, José Azevedo Ekumba, said Wednesday in Caxito.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the opening session of the 3rd Scientific Workshop marking the 15th anniversary of the INEMA creation, Ekumba said there are currently 400 professionals, including doctors, nurses, diagnostic and therapeutic technicians and drivers, which is not enough to meet the country's demand.
He added that the INEMA also has currently 228 non effective employees deployed in provincial offices on the verge of being hired on a permanent basis, and that in terms of resources, they are doing relatively well, with 300 ambulances.
Ekumba said in the first quarter of this year more than 7,000 incidents were recorded across the country, mostly road accidents and intra-hospital transfers registered mainly in the provinces of Luanda, Benguela, Bengo and Huila.
INEMA, he continued, intends to reinforce defensive driving training for drivers, to ensure the safety of users and professionals, establish agreements with some international medical emergency organizations or counterparts and increase its capacity to intervene in the rescue of victims with the acquisition of ambulance aircraft.
The workshop is analyzing the patients’ rescue on public roads, communication and emergencies between the different actors and users, as well as establishing mechanisms to improve emergency medical assistance services in the country.
INEMA was created in 2009 under Presidential Decree 40/9 of August 21, with the aim of filling one of the gaps that existed at the time in the lack of a structure tasked with the rescue of patients at home and public roads in need of urgent medical assistance.
It is responsible for defining, organizing, coordinating and evaluating the activities of Angola's Integrated Medical Emergency System, coordinating the pre-hospital care service with the existing emergency services, ensuring care and triage, activating the appropriate means of rescue in the context of medical emergencies, among other things. PA/TED/AMP
