More than two months later, the interim Andalusian mediator, Jesús Maeztu, spoke out to criticize the management of the Andalusian government, responding to the request he had made on the basis of the ex officio investigation opened after the failures of the early detection program for breast cancer in Andalusia. The material received “is clearly insufficient” and he added that “we still don’t know what action they are taking.”
“We have not received the information from the Commission and they refer us to the audit,” he said on Tuesday in an interview with Cadena SER in Seville, so “we cannot now propose measures to resolve this serious problem.” “This institution has the duty to collaborate urgently and preferentially,” he defended, “we needed resources and we had to think about what happened, what the failure was and, above all, how to resolve it.” However, the response of the Andalusian government, led by Juanma Moreno, was to evade its responsibility before the independent entity.
“I don’t want to think that this is not transparency,” said the defender, but “the response is not consistent with the elements requested”, for example, ignoring the protocol that has been established to not communicate failed exams or even the total number of staff members who are able to take care of the thousands of diagnoses that occur each year. In this regard, he determined that, most likely, “the data will have to be requested again” to offer guarantees to citizens about the process that triggered a public health crisis in Andalusia.
Four requests ignored
Amama, the association which revealed the failure of breast cancer screening which affected a total of 2,317 women, estimates that 336 women developed the tumor. In statements made in Malaga this Tuesday, the president of the entity, Ángela Claverol, said that 30 new cases of people affected by the health crisis in the province had been confirmed. It is for this reason that they asked to examine all land claims presented to the Andalusian Health Service (SAS).
Given what happened, it is worth remembering that in October the Public Protector asked the Commission four questions: the first, the total number of women affected and the clarification of the criteria by which the results of the Breast Cancer Early Detection Program were not communicated, whether this was due to a protocol or internal instructions and whether it was applied throughout the public system or only in certain centers.
Also, the operability of care through knowledge of the care load of radiodiagnostic services, response times or even the number of professionals available; The third block concerned program management and self-evaluation; and, finally, the 2022 evaluation reports, in addition to indicating the function of the Advisory Commission on Population Screening and Early Detection.
First general survey in 30 years
At the time, the Ombudsman highlighted that this was the first time in the 30 years of operation of the testing program that he had opened an investigation of a general nature and not limited to individual cases. That is to say, there were sufficient reasons, due to the social alarm generated, to initiate the process and carry out a public recognition of the breaches, in addition to considering that there was a need for reparation for the damage suffered. Thus, he recalled that patients have the right to know the results of any diagnostic test, based on what is established by the Constitution, the Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia and Law 41/2002 on Patient Autonomy.
The investigation by the Ombudsman, an independent authority appointed by the Andalusian Parliament, adds to those already opened in court on this program, active since 1995 and which carries out around 450,000 mammograms each year on women between 49 and 71 years old in order to improve the prognosis and reduce mortality. The Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation to determine whether the errors have criminal implications, in which case it will file the corresponding complaint. Likewise, IU and Adelante filed complaints for possible crimes of homicide and reckless injury, as well as failure to provide health care.
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