Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 16^th February 2022

CHUA opens new Electroencephalography Laboratory

The Cento Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve CHUA inaugurated today, Monday, February 14th, the new facilities of the Electroencephalography Laboratory (EEG) of the Neurophysiology Unit, as well as a new high-tech EEG equipment.

This new equipment helps in the diagnosis of various neurological diseases, allowing EEGs to be performed in an outpatient setting, continuous EEGs in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), Video-EEG monitoring with night sleep, among other tests.

“The new laboratory will be an asset for CHUA and above all for its users, improving the response of Neurophysiology to the entire population of the Algarve. The new features of electroencephalography allow CHUA to become a reference centre in the area, focusing on innovation and qualification of the offer in Neurophysiology and responding to the needs of the adult and paediatric population”, said the Coordinating Technician, Ana Magalhães.

Present at the ceremony, the Clinical Director of CHUA, Horácio Guerreiro, highlighted “the importance of investing in cutting-edge technology as a key aspect for quality in the provision of differentiated care”, as well as for “the retention and attraction of health professionals, who are now beginning to find in CHUA more opportunities for clinical and technical differentiation».

São Brás de Alportel celebrates the centenary of the first air crossing of the South Atlantic

São Brás de Alportel is on the map of the national celebrations of the centenary of the air crossing of the South Atlantic (100TAAS), carried out by two aviators of the Portuguese navy Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral. As important as the trip was the fact that the navigation devices, designed by Gago Coutinho, which marked the history of world aviation, were tested.

On the 17th of February, the 153rd anniversary of the birth of Gago Coutinho will be celebrated in the municipality of São Brás de Alportel with an opening ceremony of the commemorative program, a lecture and the inauguration of the traveling exhibition “1st aerial crossing of the Atlântico Sul” which will be on display until February 27, at the atrium of the Covered Municipal Swimming Pools, at 17:00. This exhibition was prepared by the Air Naval Commission for the Centenary Celebration of the South Atlantic Air Crossing (100TAAS).

On the 27th of February, the Nature Walk Cycle will also be dedicated to Gago Coutinho, showing the “Rota Gago Coutinho – Geodesy in São Brás de Alportel”, a route through the 14 geodesic landmarks of the São Brasense territory, recently requalification.

The opening ceremonies of this program take place right next to the artistic replica of the seaplane “Santa Cruz, by Carlos de Oliveira Correia, which since March 30, 2017, the date that marked the 95th anniversary of Travessia, is located next to Rua Dr. Alberto de Sousa, in the outer space of the Municipal Covered Swimming Pools.

With more than 20 tons of iron and a wingspan of more than 14 meters, the replica of the “Santa Cruz” appears as a reference in São Brás de Alportel, dignifying the History of Portugal. The replica of one of the seaplanes used by Gago Coutinho and Sacadura Cabral for the first aerial crossing of the South Atlantic is part of the program to celebrate the centenary of the crossing.

Drought: Irrigation in the Algarve divides environmentalists from authorities and producers

Newsroom, Feb 15, 2022 (Lusa) – The lack of water is causing concern in the agricultural sector in the Algarve, but while environmentalists demand limitations on irrigation, especially for avocados, authorities and producers are calling for diversification of reserves and greater efficiency in consumptions.

Speaking to Lusa, Cláudia Sil, from the Sustainable Water Platform (PAS), considered that the growing focus on avocado crops is “harmful” for the water reserves that exist in the Algarve and warned that this “is not an autochthonous species” and represents “a culture that needs water permanently”.

“The avocado tree is not autochthonous, it is a species that evolved adapting to a tropical climate, and one of the characteristics of a tropical climate is that it has a lot of water, therefore, it is a crop that needs water permanently. At this moment, it is already possible to see yellowed avocado crops in the Algarve, so the avocado tree is suffering from a lack of water,” he said.

For Cláudia Sil, the avocado “is a crop that effectively consumes a lot of water”, considering that it is necessary to “analyse the cultivation methods” of these irrigated plantations, because “the more plants per hectare” there are “the more resources and the more water” there is, while the profit remains only for the producers.

“Irrigated agriculture is totally discouraged in the region, orchards with great irrigation needs should not be developed, what we advocate are alternative crops, with other cultivation methods, such as relishing the rain fed crop”, he said.

The regional director of Agriculture and Fisheries, Pedro Monteiro, acknowledged that the region is in a “complicated situation”, with “a substantial part of the Algarve already in extreme drought”, but underlined that “agriculture is increasingly dependent on water, as like other economic activities”, and that the lack of water is also felt in rain fed fruit trees, such as almonds, carob or figs.

“This poses a huge challenge for agriculture, it has to be more efficient in the application of water to the plot, to the plant, more efficient also in the distribution of water, namely, in hydro-agricultural uses”, he considered, quantifying the 2,050 hectares of land, existing avocado orchards in the region, with an annual production of 15,000 tons.

On the producer side, he added to Lusa, there is an “increasing focus on technology that allows for intelligent water monitoring” to “measure the amount of moisture that exists in real time in the soil” and “apply only water to the soil “and plant according to what is strictly necessary”.