Portugal President Issues New Organic Law for INEM

President António José Seguro of Portugal promulgated four government decrees on 8 July 2026, among them a new organic law for the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM). The law changes INEM’s status to a public institute of special regime, giving it greater flexibility, higher remuneration and a clinical‑governance model that replaces the mandatory medical president with a clinical director and a nursing director, mirroring local health‑unit structures. It also stresses digitalisation, including AI tools for urgent patient orientation and improved interoperability of information systems.

The same set of decrees reforms the legal framework for livestock activity, integrates the School of Hotel and Tourism of Estoril into Nova University of Lisbon and creates the Technical University of Porto from the former polytechnic institute. The INEM reform has sparked criticism from former institute heads and protests by pre‑hospital emergency technicians, who cite previous strike impacts in late 2024.