Two weeks after the massive influx of immigrants to Ceuta, Mónica García has come to learn “firsthand” about the health situation. Upon her arrival, she was received with boos and shouted at with cries of: “Resignation, trash, and Sánchez on vacation!”.
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The head of the health portfolio is the sixth minister to visit the autonomous city. García has communicated the figures that outline the healthcare attention: “In these 15 days, about 5,800 immigrants have been attended to, 3,500 in primary care, and 2,300 in the hospital. On the first day, about 1,195 were attended to, between primary care and the hospital, and yesterday, 193″.
The Minister of Health has commented that “the health situation corresponds to the Level 1 External Disaster Plan, which has involved reinforcing resources so that normal care is not disrupted and the establishment of separate circuits for the Ceuta population and immigrants”. With this, she wanted to emphasize that citizens “should remain calm and go to health centers because there are different care circuits between the two groups”.
During the press conference following her meeting with the president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas, she stressed that “there is no health collapse in Ceuta: we have not sent anyone back from vacation nor mobilized anyone from another health area”. García acknowledged that “the extra effort of the professionals has been what prevented the collapse“. But she did say that “there are public health risks due to unsanitary conditions caused by overcrowding”. She confirmed two cases of tuberculosis, one of which is an immigrant.
The head of the health portfolio recalled that public health is transferred to the autonomous city, “but we are in perfect coordination with the city of Ceuta to address health problems“. “That is why we ask to be allowed to be at certain points and carry out epidemiological control with preventive specialists and monitor the situation,” she emphasized.
“Some places are more strained than others, such as Emergency, Internal Medicine, or Primary Care,” and therefore, “technically we are not facing a collapse, because we have resources and capacity to expand them. The problem is on the street and the situation of immigrants outside must be guaranteed,” the minister insisted. The figures supporting this argument include the provision of more beds in the hospital, “which increases from 175 beds to 212; currently, there are 101 people admitted, of whom only 28 are immigrants”.
García recalled that until August 31, a reinforcement allocation has been implemented through the hiring of more than 60 people: “We are doubling the reinforcements“. Right now, “the most urgent action is outside the hospital” and “associating immigration with disease and infections is xenophobic,” the minister said firmly. “We are far from the situation we had with the DANA to ask for an extra effort from the Autonomous Communities,” she stressed.
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The PP has demanded the resignation of the Minister of Health, Mónica García, for being “responsible” for the “health collapse” that Ceuta allegedly suffers after the massive entry of migrants at the end of July. The Deputy Secretary of Autonomous and Local Coordination and Electoral Analysis, Elías Bendodo, criticized the absence of the Minister of Health in the city two weeks after the migration crisis as he considers there is a “health crisis” and emergencies attend to “500 people a day, five times more than usual”. “The competencies belong to the Ministry of Health, not the autonomous cities“, he recalled.
García will also visit the Otero Health Center and the University Hospital of Ceuta, where she will meet with the Staff Board and representatives of the Medical Association. Later, she will meet with representatives of social organizations.
A visit demanded by her own medical colleagues
In these 15 days, doctors have not stopped asking for help and demanding the presence of the Minister of Health: “While this continues, people look the other way, but it may be at the expense of workers’ health”. “This is how we have been in emergencies for 13 days, exhausted, distressed… powerless, everyone comes here for everything”. “Solutions must be demanded, the hospital in general cannot hold on”.
Her presence has also been requested by the medical association of the autonomous city, as well as other medical corporations and also from the Medical Collegial Organization, the main representative of this group at the national level.
New visits from the central administration: There are already six ministers
Tomorrow, the Minister of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migrations, Elma Saiz, is also scheduled to visit Ceuta on Monday, August 17, to address with Juan Jesús Vivas the humanitarian situation following the massive irregular entry of migrants on July 30 and 31.
Since the entry of thousands of foreigners to Ceuta, the following have traveled to the autonomous city on behalf of the Government: the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; the Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles; and the Minister of Youth and Childhood, Sira Rego.
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