The Intersindical Canaria union has stated that there are 1,000 public and private hospital beds occupied by chronic patients and vulnerable dependent individuals in the Canary Islands, a situation attributed to the lack of political will to develop social healthcare places in response to the growing population.
According to the union, the shortage of social healthcare and geriatric beds has “an endemic nature” in the Canary Islands. They argue that there is no minimally sensitive policy towards the elderly and those in need of support in the various governments, as conveyed in a statement.
They also point out that there is a “huge imbalance” between the number of available places and the “uncontrolled growth of the population” as a consequence of tourism and migration.
The union criticises the Canary Islands Government and other corporations in Tenerife for ignoring the population phenomenon. In this regard, they reproach that insufficient public and care resources are allocated in this area, irresponsibly promoting the massive influx of new residents and visitors to the island.
For this reason, IC notes that it is surprising to see “the angry reaction” of the president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Dávila, and the mayors in the south of the island, “alarmed that more than half of the beds in the Southern Hospital are occupied by social healthcare patients.”
“This is not a new issue and, in one way or another, they have been ignoring it year after year,” assures the union organisation, which states that the corporations “continue to neglect their public service obligations to please business sectors.”
