Rui Rosinha was serious burnt when fighting last summer’s fire in Castanheira de Pera, Leiria and so far has been in surgery 14 times to repair the injuries to his body.The fireman spent six months in hospital after he was 85% incapacitated after fighting the June 2017 blaze in which 60 people died.
Rosinha lay in a coma for almost three months after the fires – unaware that his best friend had perished and now, at the age of 40, suffers from mobility problems and is being treated by several specialists including ophthalmology, pain consultation, urology, pneumology, orthopaedics, plastic surgery, psychiatry and psychology.
The fireman’s wife, Marina Rodrigues, has been receiving psychiatric treatment since June 17th last year after her husband was seriously burned with severe damage to his lips, the tip of his nose and his ears, ending up with no eyelids and to other parts of his body that were exposed.
It has been calculated that this local hero is to receive a disability pension of €267, a point picked up by many Sunday newspapers.
The opposition Social Democratic Party earlier this month sent a request to the Ministry of Labour asking if Rui Rosinha could be entitled to any additional support, given the horrific and violent way that he was injured.
Minister Vieira da Silva is silent on the matter but now that Rosinha’s plight has been in the Sundays, he would do well to answer the question.
