This Tuesday’s meeting between the Government of Madrid and the highest authority of the Ribera Group was resolved without assuming responsibilities and with the conclusion that the scandal that has had a huge impact throughout Spain is in reality a political-economic conspiracy. The CEO of Vivalto Santé, the French parent company of the group that privately manages the public hospital in Torrejón de Ardoz, regretted the audio leaks, in which the CEO of Ribera claims that waiting lists must be increased to improve the company’s profits, and denied that this instruction was given.
Emmanuel De Gauser, boss of the French multinational, denies the evidence that Pablo Gallart gave this order against patients to the hospital directors. EL PAÍS released the full audio where what he says can be clearly heard in front of more than twenty people. President Isabel Díaz Ayuso and her entourage, as well as the company, respond to this evidence by assuring that what has been published is “decontextualized” and hide behind the fact that at one point the CEO says that he does not think of abandoning the dealership and that they will continue to lead even if there are losses. Either way, it doesn’t change the main message to his subordinates.
The Government of Madrid released a statement this evening in which it gives more details about the meeting: “De Geuser (…) assured that no triage process was modified, no medical equipment was reused, nor were attendance criteria manipulated. The results of the internal audit carried out by Ribera guarantee the proper management of care at the hospital.” This newspaper has documentation and emails that prove these instructions existed.
De Gauser met with the Minister of Health, Fátima Matute. The CEO of Vivalto Santé, again according to the Ayuso government, assured that, faced with “the serious and false accusations made in various media”, he reserved the right “to initiate legal proceedings”. The Frenchman attributed what happened to the “climate of political tension that Spain is currently experiencing” and regrets that this “is being transferred to the area of health”. Finally, the businessman seems to have praised Ayuso: “(And let the scandal) be a bargaining chip and significantly harm a model like that of the Community of Madrid, which is an example of success, quality and leadership in health care at an international level and which Ribera wants to export to the rest of Europe.”
In the morning, the Government of Madrid announced that technicians from the General Directorate of Health Inspection and Planning had evaluated “positively” the functioning of the Torrejón hospital. “It is in addition to the satisfactory examination of the records of the sterilization center, the verification of the material stored in the cardiology-hemodynamic unit and the inspection of waste and storage areas,” specify the authorities.
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