Three months ago the residents of the town of San Andrésin Santa Cruz de Tenerife, took to the streets to demand decent healthcare, a request that translates into a permanent emergency service for the health center, since it is not provided at night or on weekends, a pediatrician throughout the day and more days to perform tests, among other claims.
It was on May 7, 2022 and the following week the neighborhood representatives met with the manager of Primary Care, José Miguel Rodríguez, who gave them a deadline to put an end to this situation: July 2022. However, from the Board of Directors of the Neighborhood Association El Pescador, San AndrésThey assure that nothing has changed, none of the points that they had exposed have changed.
Moreover, “the little empathy” and the “lack of respect” on the part of the staff “is getting worse without anyone doing anything to avoid these behaviors” and the complaints of the patients are increasing and that is why they have been forced to demonstrate again to transfer the same demand.
The protest, which has the authorization of the Government Subdelegation, will leave tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. from the Wall at the height of the tower, from there it will go down to the exterior road of the maritime avenue, it will arrive at the entrance to the town, it will go up Taganana and will end at the cultural center where a manifesto will be read.
From the Board of Directors they remember that the neighborhood office was built in the 90s to also serve other Anaga nuclei such as San José de Suculum and Igueste but today it has remained small because neighbors from María Jiménez and Cueva Bermeja also join . In total, about 7,000 people according to the latest population census.
The problems remain the same that they have suffered for several years. When the pediatrician is not there -because he attends alternate morning and afternoon shifts- or one of the two doctors is absent because he had to go out to make a home visit, patients are referred to the La Casa del Mar health center, on Avenida de Anaga, which also supports the population of Valleseco and Taganana. The property has enough space but only “a minimum” is used with the discomfort that this generates.
“There is a lack of will”
“There is a lack of will on the part of the Canary Islands Government Health Department to find a solution to this situation. We have had up to three meetings with the area manager, even since 2021”, underline the neighborhood representatives. At the same time, they underline the support of the Capital City Council that has taken this matter to the municipal plenary session in order to find a solution “but it does not have the power to do so”, they clarify from the neighborhood directive.
It was in September of that year, in the midst of a pandemic, when the aforementioned neighborhood association collected 600 signatures among the inhabitants of the fishing village in which they expressed their complaints and demanded decent health care and that the health center be provided with the necessary means. , both material and human, for proper care and that allows them to live in peace
Since then, they have received promises that have not translated into any concrete improvement and the shortcomings continue to exist, so they have decided to go out again this Sunday through the streets of the town to make their voices heard.
