The PSOE of Madrid took the initiative in the case of the Torrejón de Ardoz hospital. The group led by Óscar López, also minister of Pedro Sánchez and responsible for confronting Isabel Díaz Ayuso at the polls when the elections are called in Madrid, will file this morning with the Madrid Public Prosecutor’s Office a complaint against the CEO of the Ribera Salud group, Pablo Gallart, for the audios, revealed by EL PAÍS, in which he is heard saying that it is necessary to increase the waiting list of the public hospital, managed by his private company, to obtain more advantages. The socialists accuse him of being the alleged author of “management irregularities” and also point the finger at the Ayuso government for a possible “omission of control functions”.
After learning this during a meeting last September with around twenty managers from the Torrejón hospital, Gallart asked to prioritize the economic profits of the group over the medical care of certain patients who were not profitable for the company. According to the plaintiffs, these practices could be indicators of crimes of administrative prevarication, corruption in business and crimes against public health, or even refusal of public services for reasons of discrimination, the same crime for which three former senior officials of the government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso are accused at the origin of the deaths of elderly people in Madrid residences during the pandemic.
The PSOE announced that the complaint would also be filed “against all those who, following the investigation or investigation of the case, could appear criminally responsible for the facts now brought to the attention of the public prosecutor.” Ayuso ordered an investigation that concluded that there were no irregularities at the center, that the care was good and that Gallart’s words never translated into anything concrete.
Ayuso was sailing against the wind until a few days ago. Nothing bothered her. He had managed to overthrow an entire state attorney general, which could only be read as a victory against his main enemy, Pedro Sánchez. In addition, the President of the Government is surrounded by a series of scandals that Ayuso reminds him of every day. And suddenly, as if emerging from the stones, she finds herself confronted with a crisis that no one saw coming.
The president of the Community of Madrid and her entourage experienced a few hours of confusion after the exclusivity of EL PAÍS. This was a direct blow to the health privatization model that the PP has applied in Madrid for 30 years. Ayuso went 48 hours without talking about it, she remained silent. Even the leader of her party, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, often less talkative than her, spoke on the subject. The Madrid government, however, opened an investigation to clarify what had happened. The presidential team defends that it did not speak because it wanted to be cautious and that it was waiting for more data to give its opinion. In this age of caution, indignation grows and the news becomes a major scandal.
The president and his people have gone on the offensive. They rejected the remarks of the CEO of the Ribera Salud Group, Pablo Gallart, but instead of placing the blame on him, they are now placing blame on the leaders of this company who denounced Gallart’s unethical orders. “This guy was fired,” they say around Ayuso, but the reality is that no, he only resigned from “his position as director” of this hospital. Gallart continues in the same position.
According to the Community of Madrid, the CEO’s orders never had an impact on the daily operation of the hospital. “Internal quarrels cannot call into question Madrid’s health system,” they downplay. They insinuate that it was even “strange loves” and that they used the diary “for baseless revenge”. According to him, “the names and first names of the complainants should appear, the ‘sources’ are not valid”. “It’s clearly a vendetta,” they repeat.
The affair has only grown in importance. EL PAÍS published an exclusive again on Friday: hospital employees were ordered to reuse single-use medical equipment. The instruction is documented and has been reported in the company’s ethics channel. The Ministry of Health inspection, led by the Ayuso government, found no evidence that this was implemented, leading them to conclude that the news “is false”, despite the fact that the instruction is real and there is evidence of this.
The Community of Madrid and the Ribera Group want to show that the published audios are decontextualized. The company distributed one in which Gallart can be heard saying the following: “We are prepared to stay in the project, even if the profitability that we will now have in the future is zero. However, none of this contradicts the EL PAÍS investigation. In the first information he already added that Gallart had exposed the poor financial situation of the hospital to make cuts and increase waiting lists.
Ayuso encountered an unexpected crisis just when she had the political initiative. The conviction of Attorney General Álvaro García Ortiz for revealing secrets in her boyfriend’s alleged tax fraud case managed to distract attention from the main problem, which is none other than the alleged crime committed by her partner.
In the days following the trial, former socialist minister and former right-hand man of Sánchez, José Luis Ábalos, was imprisoned. Shortly after, it became known that the PSOE had acted negligently and quickly in the cases of sexual harassment reported by several activists against another socialist heavyweight, Paco Salazar. The central government was in a perfect storm. However, the Torrejón hospital scandal changed its rhythm. Ayuso was forced to give explanations on an issue that concerns her personally and which calls into question her management, which rarely happens, since the discussion always focuses on questions of national politics. After a moment of confusion, the president and her people went on the attack.
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