Santa Cruz de Tenerife, 25th Feb. (Europa Press) –
Esther Monzón, the Health Minister of the Canary Islands Government, has estimated on Tuesday that there are 540 dependent individuals occupying hospital beds across the islands, a figure that the socialist group claims is 627—37% more since the start of the current legislature.
Responding to a query from the Socialists during the Parliamentary control session, she defended the socio-health strategy of the Executive and reproached the Socialists, stating that it is a “problem that did not start recently” and one that “they failed to address.”
The councillor has championed the “absolute professionalism and dignity” of the healthcare staff within the Canarian health service and emphasised that the soon-to-be-launched strategy revolves around a communication protocol with patients who have received medical discharge, allowing them to be assessed “as quickly as possible” so they can have access to a socio-health bed. This will also be supported by the emergency plan established by social welfare to expedite the recognition of the degree of dependency.
She refuted the figures presented by socialist deputy Miguel Ángel Pérez del Pino and lambasted the “inefficiency” of the ‘Pact of Flowers,’ which resulted in 300 beds not being available in the hospitals of La Candelaria, Lanzarote, and Doctor Negrín.
Pérez del Pino remarked that the government’s record in managing such cases is “bleak” as the number of social patients “continues to rise day by day,” and he reminded the nationalists of the “outcry” they caused when there were only around 200 individuals.
He accused Monzón of “concealing and manipulating” data, pointing out the “saturated” emergency departments and an “unprecedented crisis” in hospitalisation beds at the reference centres.
“The lack of action from this government is leading the archipelago towards an ineffective and precarious health model, ultimately causing a widespread exhaustion among healthcare staff,” he stated.
