VALVERDE (EL HIERRO), Jan. 3 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The president of the Cabildo of El Hierro, Alpidio Armas (PSOE), has accused this Wednesday the Government of the Canary Islands of leaving 1,200 Canary Islands residents in Venezuela “abandoned” without health care by not renewing the agreement with the Spain Health Foundation.
As detailed by the Cabildo in a statement, the Foundation has communicated that on December 31 the agreement for all affiliates expired, so it invites them to “call” the Delegation of the Government of the Canary Islands in Caracas.
Faced with this situation of “humanitarian drama”, Armas has announced that the Cabildo is going to sign an “extraordinary and urgent” agreement valued at 105,000 euros to guarantee the health, surgical and pharmacological benefits of the people of El Hierro in Venezuela in the face of the “passivity” of the Government from the Canary Islands.
The corporation, which has been made aware of the facts through the Friends of Garoé Civil Association, recalls that this agreement was reviewed by the previous Government of the Canary Islands, raising the amount from 600,000 euros to 1.1 million by 2023 and increasing the coverage from 845 beneficiaries to 1,211.
This amount benefited people over 65 years of age who are in a vulnerable situation and do not receive financial benefits for old age or disability, and also lack medical insurance.
The island president demands explanations from the Government of the Canary Islands about the reasons that have led to the suspension of these benefits and demands the “urgent” reestablishment of the agreement in the face of the “drama” that the Canarians and people from El Hierro are going through “who see their oncological treatments interrupted, their medications and their surgical interventions from one day to the next, affecting a group without resources who at most can count on a pension of four dollars a month, about 3.80 euros.
Alpidio Armas shows his “unconditional commitment” to the care of the Canarians in Venezuela and in particular with the people of El Hierro, and gives as an example the “strong increase” in the allocation that has gone from 15,000 euros to 102,000 euros, which will be channeled through the Civil Association Friends of Garoé.
The president of El Hierro will soon visit Venezuela to learn about the situation ‘in situ’.
