The Regional Government has approved two proposals to ensure the non-discrimination of Azoreans in the access to medical care in Mainland Portugal as well as the reciprocity between the Regional Health Service (SRS) and the National Health Service (NHS).
 
The measure was announced Friday by the Regional Assistant Secretary of the Presidency for Parliamentary Affairs at the presentation of the press release from the Council of the Government, which met Thursday in Angra do Heroísmo.
 
The draft law proposal determines that the care provided to the patients of the Regional Health Service should not be charged by the National Health Service or its entities.
 
The Proposed Regional Legislative Decree also determines that the care provided to patients of the National Health Service should not be charged by the Regional Health Service or its entities.
 
"These two initiatives," said Isabel Rodrigues, "embody the principle of reciprocity in health care, according to an agreement reached between the President of the Regional Government and the Prime Minister at the audience held on January 6. They place the patients of both systems on equal circumstances, through a solution that is in line with the complementarity of services and ensures the non-discrimination of Azoreans in the access to medical care in Mainland Portugal."
 
The Council of the Government also approved the Strategic Plan and Marketing for the Azores Tourism, which is primarily aimed at the definition of a set of strategies for the qualification and sustainable development of the tourism sector, the preservation of the environment and the development of tourism activities as a tool for the revitalisation of regional economy in the archipelago.
 
The Government of the Azores also authorised the opening of a public tender to award the contract for rehabilitation of Santa Maria Airport Cinema, with a base price is four million Euros and a completion period of 540 days.
 
The rehabilitation of the building, built by the Americans during World War II, represents the fulfilment of a commitment that the Government of the Azores took with Santa Maria islanders in order to provide the island with a cultural facility that is in line with similar ones throughout the archipelago.
 
As for the environmental area, the Government approved the opening of a tender to launch the construction works of the tributary diversion canal in Salto da Inglesa stream and the consolidation of the bed and banks of Salto do Fojo canal in the municipality of Povoação.
 
The base price of the contract work is set at 1.5 million Euros and has a completion period of 450 days.
 
Included in the Management of Furnas Lake Hydrographic Basin, this intervention will control the influx of nutrients to the body of water by reducing runoff as well as the dynamics of sedimentation.
 
The Council of the Government also carried out a previous analysis to the Proposal for Regional Legislative Decree establishing the Regional Commissioner's Office for Childhood, a regional entity whose mission is to protect and promote the rights of children and young people in the Azores. It will exercise the powers assigned to the National Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Children and Youth.
 
This Proposal for Regional Legislative Decree will be approved in the next meeting of the Council of the Government.