the Constitution Festival in Royal Post Office The matter has been largely overshadowed by the controversy surrounding Ribera Salud’s management of Torrejon General Hospital. The left saw a potentially weak wing of the regional government … to Isabel Diaz Ayuso And he won’t leave. It had previously announced judicial and parliamentary measures to try to besiege the president of the region, who spoke for the first time yesterday about this issue. It was in his speech on the occasion of the anniversary of the Constitution, in the Puerta del Sol, when he defended the Madrid health model, which the people describe as successful, with a very clear warning: any bad practice “will be eradicated with force and responsibility.”
The political controversy has been growing since Wednesday, when an audio recording was released of Ribera Salud’s CEO, Pablo Gallart, in which he defended modifications at the Torrejon hospital, where he has management privilege, to treat fewer patients and achieve more benefits. It is an idea that could become a political missile against the waterline of the Community of Madrid, which boasts and strongly defends public-private cooperation in five hospitals in Madrid. The Ministry of Health reported yesterday that after the first inspection, no “violations” or poor care were discovered at the hospital.
The regional government and the General Parliament in Madrid defend the model’s “efficiency” and provide concrete data: the waiting list for non-urgent surgeries in the region is 49 days, the lowest in Spain. On the other hand, the left prefers to stay with the world: a million people are waiting. When the controversy broke out, the PSOE and MAS quickly announced parliamentary initiatives: demonstrations, a proposal to abolish the franchise in Torrejón and an investigative committee in the Assembly. The Socialists even asked the European Commission to speak out.
In this tense atmosphere, Ayuso hosted yesterday at the Real Casa de Correos to celebrate the 47th anniversary of the Constitution. No member of Sanchez’s government was invited to join the party, which the People’s Party accuses of trying to “destroy” the constitution. The Executive organized its own event in the pious schools of UNED, which was not attended by any representative of the popular schools.
“We should all be treated equally, without a prior visa, and no one should be left at the hospital door.”
Ayuso used his speech to refer for the first time to the controversy taking place in Torrejon Hospital. Speaking of public services, he stopped at healthcare, boasting that Madrid is “one of the best cities in the world in one of the regions with the highest life expectancy.” “Thanks to its professionals, and the system we have created in this region, it is recognized everywhere. “This should be managed under the leadership of the public administration,” he commented. The public listened to it with skepticism by parliamentary spokesmen for MAS Madrid and the PSOE, who demanded an end to the private management of hospitals and, incidentally, Ayuso’s resignation.
“With the necessary information available, and without hesitation, we will act to defend our health system.”
The president defended that the health department should serve “so that no one is left unattended at the hospital doors, so that we are all treated equally without a prior visa.” “Opening the system to all of Spain, offering the service generously to anyone who needs it here. As Madrid always did. That’s why we’re also a metropolitan area.”
There he issued his warning, in the case of Ribera Salud, which the left described as a “horrible scandal”: “I want to take this opportunity to make clear that any bad practice will be eradicated by force. With the necessary information in our hands, without thinking, but with responsibility and coherence, we will now and always act in defense of our health system and its periphery: the people of Madrid.”
“We have great professionals as we do at Torrejon Hospital, and I ask them to have the utmost confidence.”
Ayuso explicitly referred to the Torrejon Hospital to praise its health professionals: “We have great specialists as at the Torrejon Hospital, from whom I ask the utmost confidence. Neither they nor any patient will be treated in one way or another for any reason, neither for work nor for any other interest. The President promised, “This is something we have always been keen on and we will not hesitate, if necessary, to act forcefully on the part of the Community of Madrid.” He added: “Because we are free, and we only owe Madrid, for health and life.”
No incidents were detected
Sources close to the regional president indicated that there is “calm” prevailing in the regional government, as “no practical incident was recorded” in the hospital. They stressed that “health care in Madrid is the best in Spain and one of the best in Europe, and cooperation between the public and private sectors is achieving success and this is supported by operating data.” The same sources confirm that the President maintains his full confidence in Health Minister Fatima Matuti, who just returned on Friday from Chicago, where she was appointed an honorary member of the Radiological Society of North America, the highest global recognition for a diagnostic imaging specialist.
The Ministry of Health published a statement yesterday in which it expresses, on the one hand, its “complete and absolute rejection” of the statements made by the CEO of Ribera Salud and, on the other hand, highlights some recent data related to the Torrejon Hospital: in consultations, it records an average delay of 32 days compared to 60 days for the average of hospitals in its category (Level 2); In surgery, there is an average delay of 48 days compared to 42 days in the rest; In diagnostic tests, the average is 3 days compared to an average of 57 for all hospitals. They concluded that “the development of waiting times throughout this year has been satisfactory.” Moreover, ministry sources confirm that the waiting list data is “unbeatable.”
Additionally, this hospital increased its staff by 2.8 percent in the past year, going from 1,168 to 1,201 specialists; While healthcare activity also increased. This year, the ministry carried out 40 monitoring operations and “in none of them were the reported violations detected.” Controls were intensified this week, also to collect information from health professionals about the use of surgical materials.