155) Four out of five units do not have private health license

Most private health units (83 percent) in business in Portugal is not licensed, although this process is mandatory, advances to the Health Regulatory Authority (ERS).

Among the some 2 000 medical and dental clinics that exist in Portugal, there is not even a single licensee, as are the spas. "The licensing system does not work in Portugal", summarizes the chairman of the ERS, Alvaro Almeida Santos, stressing that this does not mean that the plants healthy is legalized not being able to work, but that this process is too "cumbersome and time consuming."

So how do people have assurances that these institutions are able to operate? "There are no guarantees ...", admits the chairman of the ERS. The "extreme case" of medical and dental clinics have a justification: the inability to set up a committee of technical verification - that made the surveys and inspections required for this type of establishments in the regional health - and the manual of good practices due to disagreement between the various stakeholders in the process (orders of doctors, dentists and the doctors associations of dentistry), explains the ERS.

In the case of spas, there is no licensing for lack of regulation of various issues, such as the requirements of a technical nature or the tables of staff. The problem of lack of licensing is still "particularly serious" in the laboratories of clinical pathology or clinical analysis (of 393, are licensed 98) and the more providers of radiation therapy and diagnostic radiology (of 451, only 90 are licensed).

Despite the lower the percentage of graduates is not yet significant in physical medicine and rehabilitation (47 percent) and private health units with hospitalization (25 percent). Already the 89 units of dialysis, only 11 are not licensed.

But this is not the only reason for the delays in examining applications for licensing. Anyway, the situation varies depending on the type of plant health, because there is no single legal regime for licensing, but specific qualifications. And there are even establishments - such as a doctor - which are not subject to this process, because the diploma that fits (a decree law of 1942) only obliges them to report their existence to the Directorate General of Health (DGS) and the Order of Doctors.

But even bizarre is that the applications for licensing of nursing posts (also made from DGS) have to be made upon presentation of a form of the National Printing-Mint (INCM). The problem is that "the INCM says that this form does not exist", which means that there is no center of licensed nursing, means that the ERS. In addition, the establishments of the public sector and social sector (such as private institutions of social solidarity) are not subject to licensing, but only to power guiding and inspection of the Ministry of Health.

Jornal O PÚBLICO

154) On the other side of the border

In 2006, PADIEx included 30,000 children aged 6, 7 and 8 years of age, of whom about 55% attended the dentist, a percentage that other communities, pioneers in this type of plan, it took five years to achieve.

In this regard, the Government has extremeño nuanced that this year, during the month of January, all children covered by the plan, born between 1998 and 2001, they were sent to his home for the heel of dental care and directory of dentists covered by the plan. In this way, parents of the child to be seen and can receive the appropriate assessment and treatment required by one of the 173 points located in the assistive region.

Specifically, each year join the plan that meet the children 6 years and remain there until Dec. 31 of that year met 15 years. Since the health centers and referral services for the monitoring of pregnancy, preventive activities are also conducted on pregnant women, and this activity, in recent introduction, has allowed that during the past year, were treated in these consultations around 3000 pregnant women. Also, activities of health education and prevention that benefit the oral health of the pregnant and are in the their unborn son.

In addition, the Plan of Dental Care of the Disabled has handled to date more than 10,000 consultations and has conducted more than 21,000 therapeutic procedures. According to the Board, have been intercepted under general anesthesia about 500 people who have not been met so conventional units Oral Health.

Region Digital

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Here is an example of the work done in the field of oral health in the Community of Extremadura (Spain). Clearly it is expected that the Portuguese authorities are also aware of the extreme urgency in the need of making the same kind of programs for oral health to the entire population, after all, like Spain, also are part of the European Union (or, saying in other words, it is not for lack of resources that do not deploy in Portugal these programs, oral health).

Gerofil

153) Mr. Antonio Goncalves wants clarification on health care in Flores

The member of the PSD Antonio Maria Goncalves, elected by constituency of Flores, expressed its concern regarding the provision of health care on the island. In the application tabled Regional Assembly, the parliamentary emphasizes that "the inhabitants of the island do not have access to some health care essential," and who recently questioned the Government on the status of the machine for imaging in the existing Health Center site, because "it presents no technical conditions of reliability as a supplementary means of diagnosis to be obsolete."

Antonio Goncalves says that the executive foresaw "the purchase and installation of a new unit of" X-ray "digital for the Health Center of Santa Cruz das Flores until the end of 2006", which is not turned out and motivates the question now presented. Concerning the Public Health Service Oral practiced in their island, he stressed that "the medical dentist who has moved to the island for the provision of primary health care of those unable to meet all the demands placed upon it because of its large number ", and" the inhabitants of the island have no other option but to resort to the provision of private services in the area, which involves huge costs for the family budget. " Further, "a first visit to oral health could mean a wait of more than four months, with access to the list made so bureaucratic and constrained by the second consultation, which is the dentist recommends medical treatments by following the same insiders.

Antonio Goncalves is whether there is knowledge of these realities and that government measures will be taken to modify the existing situation.

Canal de Notícias do Açores.net

152) Jose Falcon School inaugurated Office of Health Promotion

The Falcon School Jose de Miranda do Corvo inaugurated the Office of Health Promotion (GPS), which will operate each Monday afternoon with the presence of a nurse's Health Center for questions to students. "In a school population with about 700 students and a multitude of problems, it is essential that students find answers technical and professional questions about their" stressed Luis Fausto, chairman of the Group of Schools of Miranda do Corvo and director of the School Jose Falcon .

In an informal atmosphere, the inauguration was attended the councilwoman Carla Baptista, medical that will support the project technically, the director of the Center for Health, Cesar Fernandes, the head of the department of nursing, Jose Taborda, and nursing interns from the 4 . th year of the School of Nursing from Coimbra, who were authors of the project, in addition to other officials and a representative of the Association of Students. Through GPS, students will clarify questions about health, oral, healthy diet, physical activity, safety and accident prevention, sexuality, alcohol, drugs and other issues related to health.

The councilwoman Carla Baptista stressed the great 'educational value of the project ", which is based on a section on health promotion and disease prevention. "The aspect of health promotion has been forgotten in the country, but the Health Center of Miranda do Corvo showed that remains at the forefront of primary health care, promoting interventions of great educational value", stressed the mayor.

For the director of the Center for Health, Cesar Fernandes, the creation of GPS belongs to "implement a philosophy of medicine to a close, ever closer to the people". According to this doctor responsible, "the school population is so vulnerable that could benefit quite this space ', where students can present their concerns and questions in a space of open dialogue and confidential".

The GPS results from the partnership between the Health Center, the grouping of Schools Joseph Falcon and the City Council, with support from the Institute of Sport in Portugal.

Diário de Coimbra

151) Guardianship does not contain health centers

The regional secretary for Social Affairs in the government pledged yesterday that management is not foreseen in the medium term, the closure of any health center in the region. Conceição Estudante who spoke on the balance sheet presentation of activities relating to these units of health said that at the moment the main concern is to provide conditions for the smooth functioning of existing health centers.

Critical of those who believe that the closure of these services is a way to reduce costs, the regional secretary for Social Affairs sought to prove just the opposite, asserting that the effect may be contrary to the extent that the whole panoply of medical care and nurse assigned to the emergency room is a hospital or a health center is "objectively more expensive than the provision in a medical consultation."

In this sense, Conceição Estudante has left a clear idea that the reduction of costs on health goes, first, by backing the prevention and the proper provision of primary health care. One objective should be reflected in an increase in the number of available medical consultation in health centers.

Conceição Estudante also said that in recent years, the growth rate of expenditure of the Regional Health Service was below the rate of inflation. Because the efficiency of healthcare delivery in health centers passes for ensuring a sufficient number of doctors, family, the secretary assured of protection that goes in the right direction region. Are currently engaged in the health centers 109 professionals, among doctors from family and general practitioners that the sum is 24 more interns, doctors who are to finish this specialty. Although the number is sufficient for the approximately 114,387 users who attended last year, the health centers, does not satisfy the authority, which wants to raise the number of visitors these units.

According to figures released yesterday by Chairman of the Board of the Regional Health Service (SRS) the number of visitors amounts to only 42.5 percent of total subscribers (269,379), with an average of 3 for regular consultations during the last year. Regarding the total number of consultations, the SRS found about 334,507 documents, of which 13,524 were consultations of family planning, there is at this level, an increase of 5.5 percent over 2004.

Consultations home growth has been strong, around 42 percent over the past two years. The dentist was another area of greatest increase, with an increase of 113.9 percent. Indeed related to the extension of the Oral Health Program of the whole region, emphasized Filomeno Paulo.

Tânia Caldeira
Jornal da Madeira
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While this news does not carry the numbers of oral health consultations conducted in the region, at least it seems appropriate that this strength has reached a higher proportion of the local population.

Already have been submitted data on the evolution of oral health programs for children and young people in the mainland (previous posts). I thank those who can provide more statistics on trends in time and place of the national territory, on oral health.

Gerofil

150) Play and learn

On Monday, the Office of Public Health of Barreiro was doing an action to promote health among the young, this action which includes the school health project. Students of the School of the 1st cycle of Basic Education and the School of Coina 2 of the 1st cycle of basic education da Telha (St.André) that were well and happy in the end said they learned a lot.

Techniques, nurse, dietitian and oral hygienist did a puppet show to teach children how to eat well and wash your teeth.

The story begins with Little Red Riding Hood which is very greedy and has lazy to wash your teeth. The Capuchin will take your lunch to your friend Snow White who is ill, but finds the way in which Pinocchio is very liar. The girl tells you not like soup or fruit and who always wanted to eat sweets, the Pinocchio tells you to eat the sweets, do they do poorly. What is certain is that the Capuchin got belly ache and with a cavity in the tooth. Then find the Robin Hood says it is necessary that the intervention of Fairy Nutritionist, this tells the Capuchin who should always eat the breakfast before leaving home, eat soup, meat or fish and fruit to grow healthy and with energy. As the Capuchin also had pain of tooth, it was necessary to draw the oral hygiene taught to the boys and girls how to wash your teeth and can not eat many sweets.

The puppets to play, the boys learned that they should not eat candy in exaggeration, it is important to a healthy diet and should wash their teeth well, at least 3 times a day. The students were very carefully to the theater because they were interested in learning a different way. In the end, promised to take no more candy for lunch, thereby taking a healthy diet.

This is a good example of health promotion, so that the little ones to begin to take care of their health and live happy and healthy adults.

Jornal do Barreiro

149) Stomatology: Central Hospital with a waiting list of 3 years!

The Hospital of the Holy Spirit of Evora, providing public health care covering a population of over 150 000 residents, is now a waiting list of about 3 years for the consultation of Dentistry.

This deeply regrettable and the waiting list is inconsistent with a civilized country said, and it urgently deserves special attention in its resolution by the Minister Correia de Campos. Why is concerned a serious public health problem of the population of the district of Evora.

148) Pregnancy and oral health

One tip: during pregnancy visit your doctor dentist in the 3 months to perform a cleaning of the teeth, thus preventing the gingival problems, and to make a topical application of fluoride, which prevents tooth demineralization, thus preventing the emergence of new caries, or the development of caries background.

This way you can enjoy a pregnancy with an oral health much more stable.

A doctor's advice Jose Antonio Teixeira (Doctor of Dental Medicine, the Higher Institute of Health Sciences Egas Moniz, and Post-Graduate in Surgery and prosthesis on implants; teacher asked the chair of periodontics, the Higher Institute of Sciences Egas Moniz)

Jornal Oeste Online

147) Public Health

The air we breathe, the water are two public areas of intervention of the project to the environment and health clinic that the University Fernando Pessoa (UFP) is preparing to launch in the course of this month, in Ponte de Lima. The start of another project clinic not the end of the initiative said that since 2003, the UFP dedicated to oral health and public and which already amounted to 34,603 screenings poorest people.

The public health clinic project, covering the control of cholesterol, blood glucose and blood pressure, oral hygiene, medical tests and speech therapy, has been initiated in the district of Viana do Castelo and spent the last year for four counties in the district of Braga. The project manager, Jacinto Durães, makes an overall "highly positive".

In the district of Braga, where the project covered the counties of Guimaraes, Braga, Vila Verde and Fafe, 4784 surveys were conducted. "We meet people that we sought, but also schools, nurseries and homes for the elderly" said Jacinto Durães, which believes that with this project, the University gives a signal that "wants to reach people."

The areas are the most sought medical tests and health (cholesterol and glucose), as well as monitoring blood pressure, describes the project manager of the clinic. "We found many people with high cholesterol and blood glucose, blood pressure and the" points. For all institutions and educational establishments covered, was sent a report on the conditions encountered. In addition to the populations, the project involved hundreds of students of nursing, medical tests, dental care and speech.

After the district of Braga, in the academic year 2005/6, the project followed to Baião. Jacinto Durães ensures that the public health clinic "is to continue", in partnership with local authorities. "Given how important it is, the public health clinic project is claimed by other parts of the country" refers one responsible.

During the month of August last year, a team of graduates in dentistry, nursing, physiotherapy and medical tests was in Angola. The graduates of UFP have the technical training in these areas of health (282 in total) and had traces of oral hygiene and medical tests at two hospitals and two health centers.

Correio do Minho