Ilustre Colegio Oficial de Médicos de Madrid (Icomem) is not experiencing its best moment. On the ground due to the tense situation experienced by the Board of Directors, led by Manuel Martínez Celes, who is currently in legal limbo after having exceeded the interim period into which he entered when the access of the president-elect, Tomás Merina, for the past ten years to the ballot box was revoked due to problems with his candidacy. And also because according to the last audit of the school’s accounts, which analyzes the management during the year 2024, the foundation’s ships have dropped significantly to numbers not seen in recent years: it started in 2024 with a funding of 4.2 million euros and this year it reached 66,718 euros. In 2023, 8.9 million were added to the bank.
The main reason for the accounts is the works that took place at the Foundation’s headquarters, the building located on Santa Isabel Street No. 51. The cost of these works was one of the fronts with which Mirena’s candidacy attacked the candidacy of Martínez Celes during the electoral period. The current board initiated these reforms during the last legislature with the aim of making money by renting out the various rooms that represent the property to third parties. Thanks to these funds, the financial “independence” of the Foundation will increase, which is currently supported entirely by fees paid by the 52 thousand doctors of the Community of Madrid, and it is important that Martínez Seles himself turns into a “populist” business, according to Mirena, and for him who was not able to join the Foundation 2.5 million euros last year.
The cost of business increases every year, as do overhead expenses. In 2023, 1.1 million euros have been assumed for renovations, which will eventually reach 4.4 million. In 2024, the same thing happened, because of the scheme of 1.4 million euros, they ended up spending 4.7 million, a deviation of 224%. Manuel Martínez Celes answers to this periodical that they do not bear the cost, even though he believes that it is a historic building located within the View of Light, which is also a World Heritage Site, because “this renovation is particularly difficult and that actions that have been planned for several months have been carried out elsewhere.”
Under this idea, works such as the redesign of Jiménez Díaz’s classroom (intervened in 2023) cost more than one million euros (441,000); Entrance and hallThey had to spend 150,000 euros and ended up spending 704,000 euros. Moreover, there were other offers that were not taken into account and ended up with another million and a half euros that were not expected at the end of the year.
The Merina team believes that the ongoing reforms are achieving the expected results because it was estimated that in 2024 it would cost one million euros alone to exploit the Santa Isabel headquarters, but the figure ended up being 809 thousand euros for this concept, as it appeared in the audit. “There are still no competitive prices for renting your space compared to other sites dedicated to it,” highlights Icomem spokesman Para Todos, Merina candidate.
“The treasury is stable,” Martinez-Celis says. “At the last hearing, it was reported that the amount was around four million euros. EY (audit firm Ernst & Young) confirms that there are no cash tensions, no related debts, and no risks to the services or collective activity.” Los de Merina points out that these four million euros correspond to the quarterly collection of collective fees, which will be quickly spent on subsequent actions.
One of the data that most attracted the attention of the Merina team to the audit was the signing of a credit policy of 1.5 million euros with Banco Santander in March 2025, which is recorded in the document, although it is a later date than 2024. The signing of the credit policy in means that the college received this amount, but this number is available for a year (until 2026) for any emergency. With a budget of 67 thousand euros with that which started the year at the institution, Merina’s candidacy ensures that among these contingencies the salaries of its workers, who alone represent 240 thousand euros of funds per year, can be paid.
However, the date on which these funds were used was not reflected in the audit because it corresponds to the practice of 2025. Junta Martínez Celes contradicts those statements and says that although the line of credit was identified, “it was not necessary to use it.” Moreover, he does not believe that he has not been able to pay his dues to some workers due to lack of funds.
This credit policy was signed without the approval of the institution’s compliance association. Asked why the members of the Assembly were not consulted about the process, Martínez Celes answers that “it is known that the entire electoral process has been judicialized” to justify it, implying that the work of the compromisers is as frozen as that of the president-elect Tomas Merina and that the process is not resolved in the courts, which lasts every year.
“Anti-democratic drift and economic ruin are two sides of the same coin in the current ICOMEM. It is the legacy of Martínez Celis, who has a real panic that enters a new board and can see how doctors’ money is managed. Every minute after this position is a danger to the institution,” Tomás Merina concludes.