The Minister of Health, Mónica García, denied this Sunday that there is a situation of health collapse in Ceuta due to the migratory crisis that the city is experiencing, although she has recognized, yes, that there are some hospital areas and especially Primary Care that are stressed.
This is what García expressed in a press conference directly from the autonomous city, where he went to hold a meeting with the president of the autonomous city, Juan Jesús Vivas, and with other local authorities and where he was received with boos from several health workers.
"In Ceuta there is no health collapse," stressed the minister, who has given as proof of this that they have not had to ask any of the professionals to return from their vacation as has happened in the Army and with the civil guards. that no doctor has been made to leave their area and that the Ceuta University Hospital - the only one in the city - is at 50% bed occupancy, not 100%.
The minister has also indicated that there are 5,800 migrants who have been assisted in the last 15 days. Of them, 3,500 have been distributed in primary care and 2,300 in hospitals. Likewise, on the first day 1,149 migrants were assisted, and over the weeks the pressure "has been decreasing by 70%", with "an average of around 300 people assisted over the different days, which has varied between 200 and 400."
To deal with this situation, the head of Health has boasted of having urgently hired "60 more professionals" and has highlighted that right now the "health emergency" that currently exists in Ceuta is to improve the living conditions of the more than 5,000 irregular immigrants who remain in the city, for which she has asked to give them "roof, water, food and good insulation." In this sense, he has asked the president of Ceuta to provide more spaces to care for migrants in healthy conditions and avoid disease outbreaks.
Thus, García explained that migrants "do not bring diseases", but the main risks now are in the health of migrants, who are the ones who may have "greater access to certain infectious diseases that until now have been contained." Despite this, he wanted to send a message of calm to the Ceuta population, knowing the possible fears they may have. Thus, he has assured that citizens cannot become infected with some diseases brought by migrants because there are differentiated care circuits.
The head of Health has stressed that the situation is located at level 1 of the Guide for the Preparation of Disaster Plans in Hospitals of INGESA, the department of the Ministry of Health that manages the Ceuta Hospital and wanted to value the work of health workers and public servants. "If there has not been a collapse in our health system, it is thanks to the professionals," he noted.
The minister met this Sunday morning with the Government delegate in Ceuta, Miguel Ángel Pérez; with the director of the National Institute of Health Management (Ingesa), Isabel Muñoz, and with the president of the autonomous city. After leaving the meeting with the Government Delegation, García was received with boos and cries of "resignation" from a group of doctors who had gone there to rebuke the minister and ask to speak with her.
In fact, one of the doctors present at the protest has even jumped the police cordon and demanded to speak with her. "The emergency doctors want to talk to you," he declared while shouts of "resignation" were heard.
Hours before his appearance, the deputy secretary of Autonomous and Local Coordination and Electoral Analysis of the PP, Elías Bendodo, has demanded García's resignation for being "guilty" of the "healthcare collapse" that in his opinion Ceuta is suffering. In statements to the media from Tarifa (Cádiz), Bendodo criticized that the head of Health took two weeks to go to the autonomous city, since what is being experienced in the city is a "health crisis" and the emergencies serve "500 people a day, five times more than usual."
That said, Bendodo has questioned the Government's reinforcement in the face of a "health emergency that must be addressed." "Hiring two more doctors and two nurses is a joke. It is not being in reality," reproached the PP leader, who indicated that more than 70,000 people have entered irregularly, "some with very serious pathologies." In this sense, he has also criticized the Executive's position towards doctors in Ceuta "who double and triple shifts" while "they are supporting emergencies." "And when they complain about this, the Government calls them alarmists," he added.
