Intersindical Canaria has expressed this Monday through a statement the demand for the opening of the new facilities of the emergency department at the Hospital Universitario de La Candelaria, in Tenerife, and has stated that such a delay is “unjustified.”
The organisation has pointed out that the blockages in emergency services in the Canary Islands are a consequence of the “collapse” of the entire public healthcare system “that has been dragging on for the last few decades,” due to an “excessive” population growth with a similar number of beds and resources, and repeatedly erratic government management.
In the case of the island of Tenerife, Intersindical has indicated that in addition to global factors such as “the repeated low investment in human, material, and infrastructure resources; the work and care overload; the precariousness and legal uncertainty, there is the unjustified and repeated delay” in the opening of the new emergency department facilities at the Hospital Universitario de La Candelaria.
An opening announced for the end of last year, which “would dignify” the situation in which patients and users find themselves in the current emergency service, and would serve “to apply a true contingency plan across Tenerife, where the urgency in healthcare doesn’t depend on the health area assigned to the patient by domicile.”
Intersindical Canaria has reminded that it was in 2019 when the works began after being awarded at 4 million euros. Six years later, the organisation points out, “the Government fails to provide a date for its commissioning.”
Apparently, adds the union, the work is pending the installation of the wastewater treatment plant and the walkway that must link the accesses with the main building, “without knowing the causes of these deficiencies in the construction carried out.”
For Intersindical, “in light of these statements, we understand that, if necessary, the work should be assumed by the healthcare administration, and the pending work should be completed immediately for commissioning.”
The union has cited as an example that the current waiting room is located in containers, “with limitations of space and ventilation; that in the assistance area patients are crowded on stretchers, without any hint of privacy, beyond a screen or curtain, and with no physical space for professionals to provide basic care properly.”
For all these reasons, it demands that the new building, “immediately addressing the alleged deficiencies,” be made available for care activities.
