Portugal wins Eurosurf 2023 Championships
Yesterday, the Portuguese surfing team won Eurosurf 2023, in Santa Cruz, with Guilherme Ribeiro and Mafalda Lopes winning 'gold' in surfing and AntĂłnio Dantas and Raquel Bento winning 'silver' in longboard.
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“It was a difficult championship and therefore even more delicious. We knew that Spain was a great candidate, but we were also aware of our potential. Things didn't go well for us at the beginning, but we managed to stabilize. It is an enormous pride to lead this team that knew how to be a strong, solidary and united group. It is one of the highlights of my career as a coach”, said coach David Raimundo, in a statement released by the Portuguese Surfing Federation (FPS).
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In the women's surfing final, Mafalda Lopes prevailed over three Spaniards, and, right after, it was Guilherme Ribeiro's turn to show why he is the national champion, beating the Irish Geaorid McDaid, the Spaniard Luiz Diaz and the Dutchman Beyrick de Vries to collect the gold and thus seal the European title for Portugal.
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Earlier, it was Raquel Bento who won the silver medal in the women's longboard competition, and AntĂłnio Dantas imitated her in the men's longboard. Gold in both finals went to England's Emily Curry and Ben Skinner, respectively.
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“I was a tough championship and was a fight until the end. We have a very strong team, both athletes and coaches. It is clear that we had some controversial situations in the judgment, but Portugal took the fight to the end and won the championship almost on the last wave. This proves that we are managing to work, we will have Olympic scholarships for the winners”, said João Aranha, president of FPS.
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And he added: “Anyone who thinks the European Championship is easy is wrong, as it never was and this year was even more difficult. We had a very strong Spain that we managed to pass 'on the curve' on the last day. This team is a sample of the future of national surfing and that fills us with joy”.
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Competing on home turf, the national team was represented in surf by Guilherme Ribeiro (Costa da Caparica Surf Association), Guilherme Fonseca (Peniche Surfing Club), Afonso Antunes (Ericeira Surf Club), Erica Máximo (Recreational and Cultural Club of Quinta dos Lombos), Gabriela Dinis (Recreational and Cultural Club of Quinta dos Lombos) and Mafalda Lopes (Surfing Association of Costa das Caparica), while António Dantas (Surfing Clube de Portugal) and Raquel Bento (NOCAS) were the athletes in the competition longboard.
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21 year old Quévin remains missing
Quévin Andre Protseko, 21 years old, has been missing since Sunday from Santa Luzia, Tavira. His parents still have no news and continue to search the Tavira area after authorities located Quévin's cell phone signal.
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Quévins mother told newsapapers, “We were already in Romania, and Sunday morning Quévin was due to go to catch the bus from Tavira to Lisbon, and then from Lisbon to Budapest, to attend his brother's wedding. Saturday night, when I called him at 20:33, we spoke very well, I told him not to be late, etc”.
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Neighbours entered through the backyard of the house on Sunday morning, in search of the young man, but QuĂ©vin was no longer there. His documents and money were still in the house.Â
The young man's mother tried to call him, but he did not answer. “Until Monday the phone rang, but with no answer”, but no longer does.
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Authorities located Quévin's cell phone signal, which led to searches by the family. “The signal was detected in Tavira, but it is a very large area. In the morning we went through all the houses, through the wells, etc”. Despite searches, the parents have no leads.
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Five days have passed since Quévin Protseko disappeared, but his parents do not know what could have happened. In the run up to his diappearance, the young man himself had told his friends that he was going to Romania for his brother's wedding.
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In recent days there have been reports of sightings of the young man in Albufeira, but all still lack official confirmation.
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“If anyone knows his whereabouts or has seen him, please contact 910 653 295”, says the appeal published on the Facebook page of the Parish Council of Santa Luzia.
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The family is desperate and also asks for help, also leaving the following mobile number for anyone with any information: 919 029 216.
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Two injured kite surfers are airlifted from Ria de Alvor
Two adults and a 13 year old boy were injured on Tuesday afternoon, following an accident while kitesurfing, in the Ria de Alvor.
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Following an alert received at 17:03 by the Portimão Volunteer Firefighters, informing that three people were injured in the Ria de Alvor, the Local Command of the Maritime Police of Portimão, as well as as members of the Portuguese Red Cross and the Portimão Volunteer Firefighters attended the scene. A team from the Emergency and Resuscitation Medical Vehicle (VMER) from INEM was also called to the accident site.
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“On arrival at the scene it was found that two of the three victims were seriously injured, having been helped and stabilized by the Volunteer Firefighters of Portimão”, explained the National Maritime Authority in a statement.
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Given the seriousness of the injuries to the adults, of Polish nationality, they were transported by INEM helicopter to the hospital. The third victim, a 13 year old boy with minor injuries, was helped by the Portimão Volunteer Firefighters and transported to a hospital unit by the Portimão Volunteer Firefighters, with the Maritime Police accompanying him.
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Young man missing from Santa Luzia, Tavira
QuĂ©vin Andre Protsenko, 21 years old, has been missing from his home in Santa Luzia, Tavira since Sunday.Â
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Quévin is 185 cm tall, blond, blue-eyed and has a slim figure.
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If anyone knows his whereabouts or has seen him, please contact the authorities, or the family directly on 910 653 295.
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The family is desperate and asks that the information is shared far and wide, to get Quévin home safely and swiftly.
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Surgeries and outpatient consultations postponed as doctors begin a 3 day strike
Postponed surgeries and outpatient consultations in hospitals in the Algarve and constraints in primary health care units are consequences of the 3 day strike called by the Independent Doctors Union (SIM) that begins today.
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SIM's Algarve regional secretary, João Dias, said that adherence to the strike is "quite high", around 93.5%, meaning “many of these patients have been waiting three or four months for an appointment, or five or six months waiting for a surgery and now they return home, waiting for it to be rescheduled.”
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“We are being pushed by the Government into a situation that we tried to avoid as much as possible. Increasingly, there is a lack of responsiveness in the operating theaters and consultations, because there are fewer people, and I don't know where this will end. But the Government is not managing to solve the problem in this way”, he underlined.
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According to João Dias, the operating rooms at the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA), which includes the hospitals in Faro, Portimão and Lagos, are operating with the minimum services and all surgeries that are not considered urgent are being postponed.
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According to the SIM union leader, doctors are being trained in public hospitals and then “leave for the private sector”, after being disppointed by the state of the SNS.
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“The Algarve has to have enough capacity to respond to the population it serves, it cannot be in a situation where it does not have dermatologists, does not have haematologists, does not have endocrinologists and where the Orthopedics service is at the very least”, he stressed.
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In addition to these specialties, Gynecology and Obstetrics also “is reduced to a third of the staff”, and Pediatrics, with two maternity hospitals operating, “practically five days a week, not to say six, there is no pediatrician in Portimão and, at other times, there is no pediatrician in Faro”, he said.
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“We have patients waiting to be operated on in the Algarve, they cannot get an answer as to when it will be. Agreements are being made with hospitals such as Riba d'Ave in Braga to carry out surgeries, which is the farthest place in the country away from the Algarve, there was no place further away, only in Spain!”, he criticized.
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According to JoĂŁo Dias, doctors are on strike "not only to have better conditions and attractiveness for professionals to remain in the National Health Service, but above all because they want the country to be able to respond".
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This Tuesday, doctors started a three day national strike to force the Government to present a concrete proposal to revise the salary grid, which the Minister of Health promised on Monday to send to the unions.
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This strike takes place simultaneously with a strike by family doctors for overtime work, which started on Monday and will last for a month.
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Faro: Elderly cancer patient with breathing difficulties waits seven hours for an ambulance
AÂ 73 year old woman with an advanced stage of cancer, suffering with breathing difficulties, waited 7 hours for an ambulance last week.
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The woman is a cancer patient at an advanced stage of the disease, which makes it impossible for her to walk or even sit.
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Natália Teixeira Marques' daughter Sara said “around 6pm I called 112 on Monday. After an hour or so, they still hadn't come, I called again, they said they had very few ambulances and would come as soon as possible. They showed up half an hour after that second call. ”
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Arriving at Faro hospital, it became apparent that the reason for the delay was due to the lack of stretchers available for patients in the hospital, meaning patients had to remain on the ambulance stretchers, making them unable to leave.
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“The firefighters were with us for about three hours, until the hospital had a stretcher to move my mother on to, and they could leave”, Sara says.
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Other patients went through the same thing, “it also happened to a number of others who were from Tavira, Olhão and other places. I saw firefighters completely 'frustrated' because they wanted to leave and couldn't. Those who were with us even told me: 'I have three calls and I can't get out of here'”.
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The mother was hospitalised and discharged the next day, needing an ambulance to transport her home - this time it was seven hours of waiting.
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At 16:30 the doctor who discharged her called the ambulance. The daughter says that “we were waiting, and we were waiting, and we were waiting… I called the hospital and they said that from 18:00 onwards, the ambulance service will transfer to Portimão. And that they were going to pass my call to the transport nucleus.”
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The daughter tried for an hour to speak with the transportation nucleus, which did not respond. “They ended up telling me that it's common practice for the people in the transport hub not to answer the phone. They don't even respond internally. And that there is nothing to do. Just wait."
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Elderly patient Natália didn't get home until 23:30, about seven hours after she was discharged.
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The Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA) was contacted and said that “it does not have ambulances” and that “ambulances for transporting patients are the responsibility of private entities or firefighters and their availability is not managed by the hospital, but by the aforementioned entities”.
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The president of the Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve (AMAL), AntĂłnio Pina, in statements claimed to be unaware of the specific case of this cancer patient and recalled that this is an issue related to hospital administration that is not the competence of a mayor.
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