Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
In Friday's briefing we look at a new technology developed in Lausanne to enable hand amputees to feel temperature differences and why the plans for an underground in Zurich were buried.
In the news: progress all round on the science front
- Researchers at the Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have developed a technology to enable hand amputees to feel temperature differences. By placing thermal electrodes on the arm stumps of study participants, they were able to feel hot and cold variations when touching objects with the missing (prosthetic) hand, in what scientists called a “thermal phantom sensation”.
- Swiss authorities have authorised a methadone plant in Aargau to renew manufacturing tablets, helping to put an end to fears of a nationwide shortage of the drug, SRF reported today. The pausing of operations at the factory, for safety reasons, had spiked concerns that the 9,000 regular methadone users in Switzerland could face serious problems. The country has also been facing shortages of various other drugs.
- Medicine prices in Switzerland remain higher than in other European countries, but the situation has improved since last year, two industry groups said this week. Patent-protected medicines cost an average 5.4% less in other European nations, off-patent medicines 10.8% less, and generics 45.5% less. The overall difference nevertheless decreased by four percentage points in the last year.
More
When plans for the underground in Zurich were buried
Zurich is Switzerland’s biggest city. But its 450,000 inhabitants mean it’s a dwarf compared to other global metropolises. Nevertheless: fifty years ago, had it not been for a rejection at the ballot box, it would have found itself with a state-of-the-art underground system.
SRF writesExternal link this week about the plans for a two-line, 28-kilometre network, of which around half would have been underground. To cost CHF1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) (“astronomical” at the time), it would have given Zurich a clear big-city feel; “underground systems were seen in the 60s as symbols for economically successful cities”, city planning professor Philippe Koch tells SRF.
However, 57% of voters rejected the idea – fearing rising rent prices and gentrification – and instead, the city began on its now-renowned tram and regional rail system. All that remains of the metro idea is a single underground tram station, built before voters scuppered further development.
And so, despite a few other underground stations in Bern, Switzerland boasts just one metro system – in Lausanne, where the six-kilometre “M2” line connects the lakeside district of Ouchy to the higher areas of the city. Not only is it an outlier in Switzerland; it’s also the steepest and smallest metro in the world.
Almost 70% of Swiss doctors work more than what is allowed by law
This morning Céline Dehavay, co-president of the Geneva section of the Association of Swiss Assistant and Senior Physicians (ASCAM), talked to RTSExternal link about the fact that two-thirds of Swiss doctors work more than what is allowed by labour law.
She presented the results of a survey carried out by ASCAM that interviewed more than 3,200 professionals. This showed that almost 70% of hospital doctors feel tired and half of them work more than 50 hours a week, which is the legal maximum. “Among our members, there are more and more requests for aid,” warned Dehavay.
The co-president also explained that one of the problems is the fact that overtime work is often not recognised. “It has become normal to work overtime for which you will not be thanked.” Dehavay also blames the excessive amount of time that doctors are forced to spend on paperwork, such as patient’s files. This can sometimes take up 60% of the working time of an assistant doctor, so the ASCAM advises to delegate that to trained staff. Otherwise, this work overload could ultimately generate risks of error made by exhaustion.
Switzerland lags behind Europe for protected areas
Some nature-protection organisations have asked the Swiss parliament to put an end to what they call a “dangerous standstill situation” when it comes to biodiversity protection.
Protected areas represent only 10.8% of the Swiss territory, compared to the European average of 26.4%. Seing that next Sunday is European Natura 200 Day, Birdlife Switzerland issued a warning today criticising the fact that Switzerland is still far from the national goal of having 30% of its territory made into protected areas by 2030.
The organisation said that Switzerland has not made any progress in this regard for a decade: they say that on top of not having a lot of protected areas, the existing ones are not well cared for. This issue also extends to biodiversity in the country. The latest report on environmental performances by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) shows that Switzerland’s red list is one of the longest among industrialised nations. This means that over a third of all species in Switzerland risk extinction.
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
