The Government of the Azores created a working group this Friday to assess the damage caused by the fire at the Hospital Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), in Ponta Delgada, and present measures to restore activity in that unit.
In the resolution of the Government Council that declares the situation of regional public calamity, published today in the Official Journal, the Azorean executive (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) determines the constitution of a working group with elements from various government departments and the administration of HDES.
The working group will present by May 31st a “progress report” on the “typology of procedures and methodology that underlies the inventory of damage and losses caused” by the fire and the “identification of the need to adopt” “reparation measures ” to restore activity in the hospital.
That group will carry out a “substantiated list of dysfunctions caused in the normal functioning of the Regional Health Service” and “identify the material and financial support necessary to restore normal functioning” of HDES.
The working group, which will be chaired by the Secretary of Health and Social Security, assumes the responsibility of “identifying situations in which public expenditure is necessary for the execution of works and the acquisition of goods and services”.
The group, which may have the presence of specialists, also has the role of “overall control and management of the support provided, in accordance with the legally defined criteria in relation to the damages and losses listed”.
The situation of regional public calamity was established in a resolution by the Government Council five days after the president of the Azores executive, José Manuel Bolieiro, announced his declaration.
“The situation of regional public calamity has a regional scope, as it is not restricted only to the infra-municipal territorial area and the implementation of all buildings and infrastructures where, as a whole, the HDES of Ponta Delgada services operate”, reads the resolution.
The fire at the Ponta Delgada hospital, which broke out at 9:40 am local time on Saturday (10:40 am in Lisbon) and was only declared extinguished at 4:11 pm, forced the transfer of all patients who were hospitalized to various locations in the Azores, Madeira and continent.
At the time of the fire, 333 patients were in the health establishment and 240 had to be transferred.
The Government of the Azores announced on Sunday the declaration of a public calamity situation to “accelerate procedures” that allow the activity of the largest Azorean health unit to be normalized in a “short space of time”.
The clinical management announced on Wednesday that the hospital will be slowly reactivated, with the oncology and haemodialysis units expected to resume activity in a phased manner next week.
An accounting of the fire damage has not yet been released.
Drug trafficking network dismantled in São Miguel
The Azores PSP dismantled a drug trafficking network on the island of São Miguel, having arrested five men, aged between 22 and 46, strongly accused of the crime of drug trafficking.
In a statement, the Regional Command of the PSP of the Azores states that following an investigation, led by a Magistrate from the Public Ministry of Ribeira Grande and whose “investigation was carried out by the PSP anti-crime brigade, numerous police measures were carried out, throughout of two years, in order to investigate the contours related to criminal activity, carried out by a network responsible for drug distribution, in different locations, on the island of São Miguel”.
The PSP explains that the trafficking network “had a main person responsible who used the collaboration of three intermediaries to distribute hashish, heroin and synthetic drugs, among a considerable number of drug addicts, residing in Ponta Delgada, Lagoa and Ribeira Grande”.
In view of the evidence collected, a large-scale police operation was mounted, with the “collaboration of the special police unit, PSP of Lisbon, the Police Intervention and Inspection Squadron and with technical-forensic experts, which allowed eight home searches to be carried out and six non-domestic searches, including on mainland territory, made it possible to arrest the suspects, seize hashish, synthetic drugs, monetary amounts, among other items related to the crime under investigation”, says the PSP.
During the different phases of the investigation, several police interventions were carried out which led to “the arrest of another defendant, also responsible for distributing drugs he received from the main person responsible for this criminal cell and is currently serving an effective prison sentence in the prison establishment from Ponta Delgada”.
The defendants will await the remaining phases of the process subject to different coercive measures, and two of them, given the seriousness of their participation in the facts under investigation, were subject to the coercive measure of house arrest, while the main person responsible for the criminal network is in preventive detention.
Navy coordinates rescue of woman off the Azores.
The Portuguese Navy coordinated, on Sunday, the rescue of a woman of French nationality, aged 28, who was on board the sailboat Alabone, with symptoms of seasickness.
According to a statement from the Portuguese Navy, the sailboat was sailing “approximately 250 nautical miles from the island of São Miguel and the passenger was experiencing severe symptoms of seasickness and without the medication having any effect, she was rescued in a carefully planned operation”.
After a medical assessment carried out by the Maritime Emergency Sick Guidance Centre and “determination of immediate rescue, the passenger was initially transferred to the merchant ship OWL 5 which was nearby. This manoeuvre allowed the EH101 helicopter to carry out the extraction without incident at around 11:20 pm.”
The patient was taken to the island of Terceira, and was taken to the Santo Espírito Hospital, where she received medical care.
The operation included collaboration between MRCC Delgada, RCC Lajes, CODUMAR, the sailboat crew and the merchant ship.
Santa Clara will donate proceeds from Sunday tickets to firefighters.
Santa Clara’s SAD announced that tickets for next Sunday’s game, with União de Leiria, will cost one euro per unit, with the total amount of proceeds going to be donated to the Volunteer Firefighters of Ponta Delgada.
The decision intends to honour those who “were among the heroes in resolving the fire at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo”, reads a SAD post on social media.