Algarve’s Emergency Ambulances Halted, Residents Forced to Rely on Volunteers

With tourists sparse but respiratory infections on the rise, the Algarve suddenly found itself without a single fully-staffed emergency ambulance for almost two days last week. Residents were left relying on lower-capacity units and volunteer fire-brigades, while local mayors sounded the alarm over what they call a “collapse” of the region’s first-response system.

Snapshot of a 48-hour standstill

• Six Advanced Life Support ambulances (VMER) shuttered simultaneously in Portimão, Alcantarilha, Quarteira, Faro and Olhão.

• Only four Immediate Life Support units (SIV) – with reduced clinical capability – remained on the road.

• Ambulance downtime nationwide topped 9,000 hours in 2025, the worst record in more than a decade.

• At least three deaths in early January are under investigation for alleged delays in care.

How the Algarve fleet went dark

The trigger, according to the Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians’ Union (STEPH), was not broken vehicles but simply “no people to crew them.” State-employed technicians say wages have stagnated, overtime is mandatory and burnout is rampant. Until recently, shifts were occasionally plugged by staff flown in from Porto or Coimbra; now those reinforcements have dried up, leaving the Algarve chronically short-handed.

Adding to the squeeze, insiders point to a policy that channels limited staff toward the Lisbon-based call-centres that field 112 emergency calls. “You can’t man both the phone and the ambulance,” one senior dispatcher told us off-record. The outcome: phones kept ringing, ambulances stopped moving.

Ripple effects in hospitals and fire stations

Emergency departments in Faro and Portimão had already been wrestling with winter flu numbers. When the VMERs parked up, waits ballooned. Fire-fighter crews report average hand-over times of 45-60 minutes at hospital doors; some stretch past two hours, locking an ambulance out of circulation. In Tavira, a 68-year-old cardiac patient died after a 65-minute wait for transport. Similar tragedies in Setúbal and Santarém have revived debate over Portugal’s official eight-minute urban response benchmark, a target few regions consistently meet.

Government promises and political blowback

Facing rare public scolding from President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the centre-right government rushed out a €16.8 M package for 275 new INEM vehicles and pledged a “profound overhaul” of the National Medical Emergency Institute. Health Minister Ana Paula Martins concedes, however, that hardware alone will not solve a staffing drought. Meanwhile, the Liga dos Bombeiros Portugueses tried to deploy its own four-ambulance “task-force,” only to be slapped with a civil-protection inquiry over legality.

Opposition parties smell a double failure: unkept recruitment goals inherited from the previous executive and what they call an “ill-timed” delay in ordering new rigs, leaving 37 fewer ambulances on the procurement list.

Why this matters beyond the Algarve

Portugal’s coastal south is testing ground for the whole system. Visitor numbers treble in summer, so any winter shortfall foreshadows a high-season crunch. INEM data show inoperability hours spiking 18 % year-on-year, with the north and Alentejo only marginally better off than the Algarve.

What happens next – and what residents can do

Officials refuse to give a hard date for full restoration. New vehicles will not land before late spring, and union leaders insist pay talks must conclude well before Easter. For now, health boards advise callers to:

Dial 112 and clearly state symptoms and location.

Keep mobile lines free after the call; a clinician may ring back.

If safe, head directly to the closest Unidade de Saúde Familiar rather than the main hospital.

Save the regional poison and mental-health hotlines; these can divert non-trauma cases.

Bottom line

Until staffing contracts are signed and the promised fleet materialises, the Algarve – and potentially other regions – will depend on a patchwork of SIV units, volunteer brigades and municipal transport. Local councils are lobbying for contingency funds, but insiders warn that without fresh personnel the country risks entering the summer tourist surge with fewer life-saving resources than ever before.