SAMU - Mobile Emergency Service

What SAMU - Mobile Emergency Service does

SAMU - Mobile Emergency Service (SAMU 192 Santa Catarina) is the state-level branch of Brazil's national pre-hospital emergency medical service, operating under the Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de Santa Catarina (SES/SC) as a component of the Unified Health System (SUS). The service is a state-mandated public monopoly, providing free-at-point-of-use emergency medical response to all citizens of Santa Catarina via the 192 hotline, which connects to eight regional Central de Regulação de Urgência (CRU) dispatch centers. Trained technicians triage incoming calls and transfer them to a Médico Regulador (medical regulator) who authorizes dispatch of the nearest appropriate unit. The service operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year, and covers 100% of Santa Catarina's territory across eight mesoregions.

SAMU's core product is integrated multi-modal emergency response: ground ambulances split between Basic Life Support Units (USB, 95–104 units) and Advanced Life Support/ICU mobile units (USA, 26–30 units), supplemented by motorcycle response units (motolâncias, 6), helicopters (5, under the Arcanjo brand), fixed-wing aircraft (2), and 7 mobile ICU inter-hospital transport units. The aeromedical service is operated in partnership with the Corpo de Bombeiros Militar de Santa Catarina (Military Firefighters Corps), which provides pilots and crew while SAMU provides physicians and nurses specialized in emergency and aerospace medicine. The Núcleo de Educação em Urgências (NEU) provides ongoing training and protocol development for emergency personnel, supporting both clinical quality and protocol standardization across the network.

SAMU is fully government-funded through state and federal SUS budget allocations; there is no direct patient billing. Selected operational staff (interventional physicians, nurses, USA rescuers, Medical Regulation Assistants, and radio operators) are contracted through FAHECE (Fundação de Apoio ao HemoSC e à Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina) via selective process, constituting a public-private staffing arrangement within a state-owned operational framework. The service is not a commercial entity: it has no funding rounds, no M&A activity, no parent-company control outside the state government, and no equity structure. Its strategic priorities are operational coverage, response-time minimization, aeromedical capacity, and continuous staff training rather than commercial growth.

Name

SAMU - Mobile Emergency Service

Legal name

Serviço de Atendimento Móvel de Urgência (SAMU 192)

Website

https://samu.saude.sc.gov.br

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

SAMU 192 Santa Catarina is a state-mandated public emergency medical service operating under Brazil's SUS, providing free 24/7 pre-hospital response across 100% of Santa Catarina via the 192 hotline, eight regional CRUs, and a multi-modal fleet of ground ambulances, motorcycles, helicopters, and fixed-wing aircraft.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Emergency Medical Services

NAICS

Ambulance Services (62191)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Dispatch, Communications & Medical Control Centers (PSAP/ECC) (HLAFANAK)

Keywords

• Emergency medical services
• Pre-hospital care
• Mobile emergency response
• Aeromedical transport
• Emergency dispatch

Headquarters

HQ city

Florianópolis

HQ country

Brazil

HQ region

Latin America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Public Government Funding (SUS): SAMU is a fully government-funded public emergency health service provided free at point of use to all citizens of Santa Catarina. It is part of the Brazilian Sistema Único de Saúde (SUS). Revenue comes from state and federal health budget allocations, not from direct patient billing.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

SAMU is a public pre-hospital emergency medical service that operates 24/7/365 across 100% of Santa Catarina's territory. Citizens access the service via the free 192 hotline, which routes to one of 8 Central de Regulação de Urgência (CRU) dispatch centers where trained technicians triage calls and a medical regulator dispatches the appropriate response unit — USB (basic life support), USA (advanced life support / mobile ICU), motorcycle motolâncias, helicopters, or fixed-wing aircraft. The service is free at point of use and funded entirely through public/government resources as part of Brazil's SUS.

Product overview

SAMU 192 is a pre-hospital emergency health service that operates as a unified system comprising multiple integrated components: the Central de Regulação de Urgência (CRU) which receives calls via the 192 hotline; ground ambulances including Unidades de Suporte Básico (USB) for basic life support and Unidades de Suporte Avançado (USA) for advanced/ICU-level care; air medical services under the Arcanjos brand with both rotary-wing (helicopters) and fixed-wing aircraft; and the Núcleo de Educação em Urgências (NEU) for professional training. The service covers 100% of Santa Catarina's territory with coordinated response to deliver patients to the most appropriate healthcare facility in minimum response time.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• SAMU Aeromédico (Arcanjos): Air ambulance service operated in partnership with the Military Fire Department. Fleet includes two helicopters (Arcanjos 01 and 03) and three fixed-wing aircraft (Arcanjos 02, 04, and 06) based at Hercílio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis.
• USA - Unidade de Suporte Avançado
• USB - Unidade de Suporte Básico
• CRU - Central de Regulação de Urgência
• NEU - Núcleo de Educação em Urgências

Products and services

• SAMU 192 Emergency Hotline Free 24/7 emergency hotline (192) accessible from fixed and mobile phones that receives urgent calls, provides first-action guidance, identifies emergencies, and collects initial patient and location information before dispatching the appropriate response unit.
• CRU - Central de Regulação de Urgência Centralized emergency dispatch centers that receive all 192 calls, staffed by trained professionals who classify and prioritize needs, then dispatch the appropriate mobile units. SAMU SC operates 8 CRUs, one per mesorregion of Santa Catarina.
• USB - Unidades de Suporte Básico Basic Life Support ambulances for lower-complexity emergency cases, staffed by a driver-paramedic and nursing technician with basic life-support equipment. SAMU SC operates 95 USBs across the state.
• USA - Unidades de Suporte Avançado Advanced Life Support ambulances equipped with ICU-level equipment, staffed by a driver-paramedic, physician, and nurse, capable of advanced emergency intervention and safe patient transport. The fleet includes 26 USAs across the state.
• SAMU Aeromédico (Arcanjos) Air medical service operating helicopters (Arcanjos 01 and 03 based in Florianópolis and Blumenau respectively) and fixed-wing aircraft (Arcanjos 02, 04, and 06 based in Florianópolis) for primary emergency response and inter-hospital transfers, in partnership with the Corpo de Bombeiros Militar.
• NEU - Núcleo de Educação em Urgências Emergency education center that develops training programs and specific courses for emergency care professionals, based on recognized guidelines and protocols, to improve skills and knowledge of staff working in fixed and mobile emergency units across the state.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100% territorial coverage of Santa Catarina state
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Corpo de Bombeiros Militar de Santa Catarina (Military Firefighters Corps of Santa Catarina)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe SAMU Aeromédico (air medical) service operates in close partnership with the Military Firefighters Corps. The Corps provides pilots, co-pilots, and crew members for all aerial operations (helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft branded as 'Arcanjos'). SAMU provides the medical team — physicians and nurses specialized in emergency and aeroespacial medicine. The partnership enables both primary emergency response (e.g., accidents, drownings) and secondary inter-hospital transfers via air. The Arcanjo-01 helicopter is based at Florianópolis airport, Arcanjo-03 in Blumenau, and all fixed-wing aircraft are based in Florianópolis.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• REACH Air Medical Services: Western US air ambulance company providing helicopter and fixed-wing emergency medical transport. Comparable to SAMU's Arcanjos program but smaller scale and geographically narrower than SAMU SC's statewide aerial coverage.
• St. John Ambulance (Brazil / SJAN): Non-profit emergency medical and pre-hospital training/response organization with a public-service mission model similar to SAMU SC, though focused on training and event standby rather than full-scale 911-equivalent response.

Broad incumbents

• American Medical Response (AMR): Large US private ambulance and pre-hospital emergency services operator. Comparable in core activity (ambulance dispatch, ALS/BLS, interfacility transport) but operates under a commercial, non-statutory model in contrast to SAMU SC's SUS-funded mandate.
• SAMU Brasil (Ministry of Health National Program): National umbrella program under Brazil's Ministério da Saúde that funds and standardizes all state-level SAMUs including SAMU SC. Direct counterpart at federal level — same mandate, broader geographic scope.
• Falck A/S: Denmark-headquartered global provider of ambulance, pre-hospital, and emergency response services across Europe, North and South America. Closest international private-sector analog to a public EMS monopoly like SAMU SC.

Direct peers

• Air Methods Corporation: US-based aeromedical transport operator (rotary and fixed-wing) — direct comparable to SAMU's Arcanjos helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft program in terms of mission profile (scene response + inter-hospital transfer).
• SAMU 192 Rio de Janeiro: State SAMU serving Rio de Janeiro under SUS. Direct peer in mandate, funding model, and pre-hospital emergency response architecture, with similar regulatory and dispatch dependencies.
• SAMU 192 São Paulo: State/municipal-level SAMU serving São Paulo state under the same SUS regulatory framework. Operates a comparable CRU/USA/USB fleet model and is the largest comparable state SAMU in Brazil to SAMU SC.

Others

• Corpo de Bombeiros Militar de Santa Catarina (CBMSC): Direct operational partner providing pilots/crew for the Arcanjos aeromedical fleet. Complementary rather than competitive — CBMSC handles rescue/extrication while SAMU provides medical teams and clinical regulation.
• FAHECE: Public foundation that contracts interventional physicians, nurses, rescuers, TARMs and radio operators to SAMU SC. Operational staff supplier — not a competitor, but a structural dependency for SAMU SC's USA staffing layer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/samu---mobile-emergency-service

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SAMU - Mobile Emergency Service