The government’s flawed plan to contract helicopters to provide emergency medical cover may soon come to end with the announcement today of a new tendering process to hire helicopters that will be used only for medical emergencies and not doubling up as a fire fighting resource.
The problems in the past, apart from the embarrassment of having bought dodgy Kamov helicopters that have spent much of their time grounded due to technical issues, have included periodic gaps in specialist medical staff availability and the use of the helicopters for fire fighting duties.
The government now wants to rent four aircraft, with dedicated medical teams included and has earmarked a budget of €45 million to be spent from now until 2022, as noted in Diário da República,
The €45 million over five years is to contract four helicopters to be operational at all times, with a doctor, a nurse and two pilots for each.
Last year, the Emergency Medical Service Institute (INEM) helicopters were inoperable for 26 days because of a lack of staff at the bases in Lisbon, Evora and Loulé.
To overcome this problem, the Government is to replace the existing 2013 air services contract, which ends at the end of 2107 and has cost €37.5 million, for a new contract for helicopters and medical teams.
This was all agreed by the Council of Ministers on May 25th and INEM now can launch a public tender to guarantee a "four aircraft, equipment, consumables and crewmembers (commander, pilot, doctor and nurse) that are necessary to fully ensure this service."
The currently contract is divided into two tranches: €6.5 million allocated annually to the company that won the competition in 2013 (Everjets) and €1 million a year paid to the National Civil Protection Authority for sharing two Kamov helicopters and one Eurocopter AS-350B3.
However, this sharing agreement "has revealed some limitations" as the Kamovs are unavailable for medical rescue duties when they are being used to fight forest fires.
"These limitations pose difficulties in fulfilling the mission of INEM, which, as coordinator of the Integrated Medical Emergency System, has to guarantee the patients and victims of sudden illnesses the prompt and correct provision of health care," reads the resolution.
Background to the disatrous helicopter deal
In September 2016, employees of the National Civil Protection Authority ‘resigned’ over the Kamov helicopter fiasco that already had caused the exit of the authority's president.
The Inspectorate General of Internal Administration detected 99 "non-conformities" when investigating the 2013 helicopter deal and the subsequent contract with Everjets to provide air support for fighting forest fires.
Most of the helicopters were unfit to fly, a mechanical situation that managers at the National Civil Protection Authority made sure continued while an eye-wateringly expensive maintenance and repair contract was signed with the private company Everjets.
Three senior people at the National Civil Protection Authority left quickly, including the former president Major-General Francisco Grave Pereira.
The inspection report concluded that the helicopters were not airworthy and that management had failed to manage.
The cost to the taxpayer so far has been around €42 million for the fleet of six helicopters purchased in 2007 along with a deal with the intermediary, Heliportugal, which had a 20 year maintenance contract.
This contract was terminated by the State which then signed a deal with Everjets for the maintenance and the operation of the decrepit fleet – the cost: another €46 million over four years.
Everjets got the deal and only then did an audit on the helicopters, concluding, as everyone already knew, that all but one of the Kamovs were mechanically unsound - in fact 200 faults were noted but Heliportugal said this was 'not its responsibility.'
Then the Civil Protection Authority decided to pay €2 million more to get just two of the helicopters airborne.
The Department of Investigation and Penal Action in Lisbon is investigating the criminal aspects involving the public servants involved and Operation Crossfire has lined up charges of ‘suspected corruption, economic participation in business, falsification and prevarication’ while it continues to look at the purchase and subsequent contracts for airborne fire fighting support.
The new INEM helicopter support contract, by ensuring staff cover and having the helicopters used only for medical emergencies, is a step in the right direction but those responsible for the events of the past have yet to be charged.
See also: 'Police carry out raids in Kamov helicopter corruption scandal'
