Two INEM rescue workers are today wishing they could be anywhere else than on page 16 of the nation’s widest read newspaper.
The luckless duo from Sacavém (Loures) was called to a patient living in the problematic Quinta do Mocho neighbourhood.
The man “hadn’t been seen for a few days” and was known to have health issues. When they found him in a prone position and unresponsive, the medics simply assumed that the man was dead.
Thus they called his death in, and authorities were advised.
Because the man was “already a corpse”, no reanimation or emergency crew were alerted, writes Correio da Manhã.
But when the health delegate for São João da Talha arrived he “realised that the supposed cadaver was alive”, and the full-force of a VMER (emergency vehicle) was scrambled to transport what was by then a very sick patient to hospital.
The man was “intubated and ventilated” and the health delegate is understood to have made a formal complaint to the Public Ministry.
CM adds that INEM has now opened a disciplinary inquiry.
The Quinta do Mocho area is one built in the 1990s, essentially to rehouse families from the former Portuguese colonies.
The majority of inhabitants are of African origin, adds CM
