There may be an increase in respiratory, cardiac and “decompensation” diseases, says the president of the Regional Health Administration of the Center – reported in the Diarios de Noticais
The president of the Regional Health Administration of the Center (ARSC), José Tereso, has warned of the possibility of increasing “morbidity factors” in the zone affected by the fire that started in Pedrógão Grande on July 17.
“It is foreseeable that there will be an increase in the number of diseases, so we have launched an appeal for all residents to visit a doctor to check their health.” LSC president Lusa told the agency after the fire that began in Pedrógão Grande, that caused 64 dead and more than 200 injured.
According to José Tereso, there may be an increase in respiratory, cardiac and “decompensation” diseases. The official announced this in, Pedrógão Grande, Leiria district, from a mobile public health unit.
The mobile unit, which is in the Pedrógão Grande Health Center, will begin to move, “from place to place”, starting Monday 3rd July.
The team has “public health doctors, environmental health technicians and other professionals”, who are going to do a study “to prevent diseases of the population” and identify unhealthy situations according to the ARSC.
“They will check if someone is supplied with untreated water, if food comes from contaminated areas, among other things,” he said.
According to José Tereso, on 3rd July the regional administration is coordinating a meeting in Pedrógão Grande, “with several participants from the organizations that have been active on the ground, as well as others who provide support and coordination at the national level”, to determine the “Next phase” of the program to support the affected region.
The fire that broke out in Pedrógão Grande on June 17, in the district of Leiria, caused at least 64 dead and more than 200 wounded, and was only given as extinct a week later.
More than two thousand operatives were involved in fighting the flames, which consumed 53 thousand hectares of forest, equivalent to about 75 thousand football fields.
The area destroyed by these fires in the Central region corresponds to almost a third of the area burned in Portugal in 2016, which totalled 154,944 hectares, according to the Annual Internal Security Report released by the Government in March.