(22nd June). ’20 Cases Against Insurance Companies In Civil Construction’. The association of civil construction of Madeira has around 20 of ongoing cases of insurance claims, some on appeal. The union representative claims that the law is too permissive, and allows the insurers to dodge the claims, with some claims ongoing for "many years". The workers in this sector face the greatest risks of workplace accidents, with more than three quarters of all workplace deaths. In the last 9 years, 77 civil construction workers have suffered fatal accidents. One case of a tunnel explosion in Curral das Freiras has been ongoing for six years, and meanwhile the families are left without any compensation.
‘PSP Detain 34 Drivers For Excess Alcohol’. The police last week detained 34 motorists for drink driving offences. The abnormally high number was partly due to extra police checks, especially the major operation that ran Friday night through to Saturday.
6 beaches in Funchal hoisted their blue flags at the weekend, signifying that all facilities and safety requirements are now in operation. Well that was the theory … as another article says that some of the beaches are working with fewer lifeguards than they should. The reason given is that some of the lifeguards are students at university, who won’t finish their commitments until the beginning of July.
‘Fishermans Festival In Caniçal – The first ever event takes place between 26th and 28th June’. The festival is organised to preserve the collective memories of fishing in Caniçal.
School kids have just too many books and things to carry to school each day, and nearly two thirds complain of pains related to the excess weight carried. The study carried out in Portugal reveals that as a result the majority of students are suffering postural changes. 69% have changes in the spine, 59% have protruding shoulders, and 49% have neck pains. The average school bag contains between 4.1 and 5.4 kilos.
According to the Diário, Summer didn’t officially start until 6.46am yesterday. The information came from the Astronomic Observatory in Lisbon. The same source says that Summer will end on 22nd September at 10.19pm. These are the actual times of the solstices it seems, but I have never heard of them actually defining the exact start and finish times of a season before.
‘Healing Seeds – Madeira now has brachytherapy for the treatment of prostate cancer’. Patients diagnosed with prostate cancer can already receive brachytherapy treatment on Madeira, an alternative remedy for radiotherapy and surgery, recommended for situations where there is early detection of the cancer. At the moment treatment is only carried out in the Clinic in Santa Luzia, but the urologist Ferdinando Pereira believes it will eventually reach the regional health service, as it is already available in Portugal. Brachytherapy is the "implantation of radioactive seeds in the prostate gland" (not real seeds, very small metal rods). This is a method that is quick in terms of surgical time (a one hour session), produces very few complications, and which also usually ensures the quick recovery of the patient. The treatment costs between ten and 12 thousand Euros, and so far in the two weeks it has been available here, there has only been one patient.
Two Madeiran families went to Lisbon at the weekend to participate in the biggest picnic ever held in the world. 40,000 people turned up on Saturday at the €3 million event, which has crushed the previous record of just 8,000 people in Tenerife in 1999, and will now be entered into the Guinness Book of Records.
We are to have a new weekly sports newspaper next month, dedicated to Madeira sport. It will cost €0.30 and will start with a print run of 10,000 with an average of 24 pages. Diário subscribers will get it free until the end of this year.
‘Série Madeira Wants Games On Saturdays’. The new regional football league that will absorb most of Madeira’s teams wants to move the ‘big day’ from Sunday to Saturday.
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