Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 15th^h June 2022 

Good morning – The first item this morning is a reminder of our dangerous wells campaign. Our first post reached many people, and we thank all of you who shared this important message. A shocking statistic is that in the last 5 years some 66 people have died after falling into wells, plus five more in the last 12 weeks! These have ranged from young children to the elderly from north to south of the country. This need not have happened if the owner of the well had made them safe as required by law.

If you are a property owner with land in the rural areas, check that your well is covered if the land is not walled or has adequate fencing. Many wells are in a state of disrepair and as the picture shows (from a property currently for sale in the north of Portugal) and can be a death trap especially for young children and animals.

I covered this topic on KissFm radio last Sunday and we will continue to promote this safety message whilst encouraging more pro-active awareness and enforcement action by municipalities.

Again a warning concerning safety on beaches in particular to stay away from unstable cliffs which are clearly marked, as well as safety when entering the water. There have been over 20 deaths from drowning at sea so far this year and without many of these are a result of rip currents.

In particular be alert for young children who may be attracted to a bright object/toy in the water and enter alone to try and retrieve it with drastic consequences.

With the recent very hot weather there are a number of public safety messages we have published over the last week. The first of these relates to health and to avoid excessive exercise especially during the hottest parts of the day. It is important to recognize the signs of dehydration and what immediate action to take. Always carry plenty of water with you when cycling or hiking.

The other relates to rural fires. Given the conditions over the last few days I am surprised that there has not been more fires, which hopefully shows that key messages on fire prevention are getting across. We monitor fires throughout the day and it is clear that over the last few days the majority of fires have been in the north and mainly late afternoon/evening coinciding with the hottest part of the day.

A very encouraging statistic is that the average time from registration of a fire until its conclusion is less than an hour and some less than 20 minutes. This is import because the longer a fire burns the greater the perimeter becomes and its intensity and the more resources are required to try and extinguish the fire. When the Rural Fire Hazard is very high or extreme, this can be particularly challenging for fire fighters, especially if there are multiple fires in the same area.

Each day we include in the fire risk the FWI Rural Fire Hazard as it is important that people are aware of how quickly a fire could start in their area. The higher the level means that that there the conditions in placed based on six measurements that determine the rate of the spread of fires.

Please report fires by dialling 112 immediately and avoid any actions that could inadvertently start a fire.

Alarms are sounding: water this summer will have to be managed with caution and limitations on public use of water are inevitable. Measures will be decided this month. May was very dry and forecasts for June are no better.

Saving water will have to be the watchword this summer. After some relief in March and April, the month of May was the hottest on record in Portugal and very dry. Accordingly the forecasts from the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere, which are being worked on with the Portuguese Environment Agency, the prediction is for an even drier second half of June, which places the country in the most serious scenario ever in terms of water shortage at the beginning of summer.

We must do everything to conserve water

With that please have a Safe Day 

NEWS

Minister of Health announces “contingency plan” in emergencies for the summer months

Lisbon, June 13, 2022 (Lusa) – The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, announced today, in Lisbon, that “a contingency plan” will be put in place between June and September to seek to solve the lack of doctors in hospital emergency rooms in the country.

Marta Temido was speaking after a day of meetings with clinical directors of several hospitals in the Lisbon region, and then with unions and the Medical Association about the “instability of the operation” of these services.

In the short term, said the minister, the Government will move forward with “a contingency plan in the months of June, July, August and September, with a more articulated, anticipated and organized operation of network emergencies, of the National Health Service”.

The lack of doctors in several hospitals in the country has led in recent days to the closure of obstetrics emergencies, or requests to the urgent patient guidance centers (CODU) to refer users to other hospitals.

In statements to journalists, the Minister of Health also spoke of the opening of the hiring of specialists, namely with the opening of a competition, and the “precaution of remuneration issues”, in addition to the “support for those who are on the ground and the leaders” of hospitals. .

It is the CODU, from the Mécia National Institute of Emergency (INEM), who receive 112 calls related to health emergencies, then manage the necessary means to respond to users. 

Doctors say the 2021-2030 National Health Plan is incomplete and point to omissions

Lisbon, June 14, 2022 (Lusa) – The Portuguese Medical Association considers that the National Health Plan (PNS) 2021-2030 is incomplete and points to omissions in the areas of chronic kidney disease, which affects 10% to 20% of Portuguese people, and musculoskeletal rheumatic diseases.

In a document that Lusa had access to, the Ordem dos Médicos (OM) also says that the PNS “ignores the enormous weight of the problems relating to the national health system and, in particular, to the National Health Service”, stressing that “the The absence of a diagnosis regarding the very structures of the system, makes the elaborated plan incomplete and makes it impossible to fulfil other objectives in the next decade”.

Speaking to Lusa, the chairman of the Ordem dos Médicos considered that there are several important issues that “have not been properly evaluated” in what is intended in a National Health Plan for the next 10 years.

“We are going to have changes in migratory flows – we are already having and we will have them on a larger scale – and this is not foreseen in the National Health Plan”, said Miguel Guimarães, insisting that “these plans require certain types of options and, if perhaps, to some interventions so that these people can have access to health care, so that they can be integrated. And none of this is planned.”

In the position it issued in the public consultation of the PNS 2021-2030, the OM says that chronic kidney disease is not given due importance, recalling that it is “very prevalent” – it affects 10% to 20% of the Portuguese population – and underlines that the incidence “is expected to increase in the coming decades”.

It is estimated that by 2040, chronic kidney disease will be the fifth cause of years of life lost.

“Chronic kidney disease is linked to a part of the costs that the State has in the partnerships it makes to ensure services, such as haemodialysis”, underlined the chairman, also highlighting the “huge effort” that the country has made and carried out in the area of ​​transplantation. 

Portugal has granted more than 42,000 temporary protections to people who fled the war in Ukraine

Lisbon, June 14, 2022 (Lusa) – Portugal has so far granted more than 42,000 temporary protections to people who fled the war in Ukraine and reported to the Public Ministry the situation of 731 children who arrived in the country without their parents, indicated the SEF.

According to the latest update made by the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF), since the beginning of the war, on February 24, Portugal has granted 42,151 temporary protections to Ukrainian citizens and foreigners residing in Ukraine, 26,620 of which to women and 15,531 men. .

The SEF adds that the largest number of temporary protections granted continues to be in Lisbon (7,646), Cascais (2,635), Porto (1,630), Sentra (1,495) and Albufeira (1,168).

The SEF also indicates that it issued 37,881 certificates granting residence permits under the temporary protection regime.

This certificate, issued after the National Health Service, Social Security and Tax Authority have assigned the respective numbers, is necessary for refugees to start working and access support.

During the process of allocating these numbers, citizens can consult the numbers that, in the meantime, are being allocated, in their reserved area of ​​the digital platform https://sefforukraine.sef.pt.

The SEF also adds that requests for temporary protection were authorized for 12,743 minors, representing about 30% of the total.

The SEF also reveals that it communicated to the Public Prosecutor (MP) the situation of 731 Ukrainian minors who arrived in Portugal without their parents or legal representatives, cases in which it is considered that there is no “current or imminent danger”.

In these situations, in which in most cases the child arrived in Portugal with a family member, the case is communicated to the MP for the appointment of a legal representative and eventual promotion of a process for the protection of the child.