Has the health situation in Ceuta changed anything in the last week?
What we are seeing is that the epidemiological situation is worsening and time is passing. 14 soldiers infected with scabies appear in the press, there are at least two cases of tuberculosis...There are people dispersed, hidden, and many do not want to go near the hospital for fear of being deported. What we know are the cases that reach the health system, but that is only a small sample of what is happening. There may be someone with a fever or cough who doesn't go to the hospital, or even someone asymptomatic who is incubating an illness, and we have no way of knowing. Therefore, when you cannot establish the risk, it is best to put yourself in the worst case scenario and be prepared so that you are not caught by surprise if it appears.
What then is the risk of a large-scale outbreak?
Scabies is an example. It does not have major health consequences, beyond discomfort, but it is very contagious. In the case of the military, they can receive treatment, treat their contacts and wash bedding at 60 degrees. But with a person who is living in these conditions it is much more complicated. If you give him a cream, what guarantee do you have that he will put it on? How do you control contacts? How are you going to wash the bedding if there is no washing machine? Preventive medicine cannot be done this way.
You have requested the deployment of a military hospital or healthcare ship.
Yes, that would allow us to truly differentiate care for migrants, where we do not know their vaccination status, immune status, health status, or medical history of any kind. It would help them enter through a differentiated circuit, give them health tests, vaccinate them with a basic vaccine and treat them if necessary. And, at the same time, it would allow the Ceuta hospital to be reserved for the most serious cases. Many live in inhumane conditions, in absolute overcrowding, which further contributes to the risk of spread among them. Right now, this differentiation cannot be made in a single hospital.
You mention that the hospital staff is "broken" and working at 50%. Are the 60 reinforcements announced by Health enough?
That's the problem. It's a trap. There are 60 professionals. It's as if I need firefighters and they tell me that they have hired 60 professionals for the fire department. How many of them are firefighters? None. I want firefighters. The issue is how many of those 60 are doctors, and they have not said that. Basically, nursing has been incorporated, in addition to x-ray technicians and auxiliary nursing care technicians. If it were 60 doctors, they would have said 60 doctors. Nobody will be able to say that they have lied because they are 60 professionals, but people may be understanding that they are 60 doctors.
The minister said that healthcare is "stressed", but not "collapsed", thanks to the "overexertion" of professionals.
It's a contradiction. If you are recognizing that the situation is being sustained thanks to the overexertion of professionals, you have to ask yourself what happens when a person overexerts themselves for twenty days in a row. Well, even the professional himself can end up collapsing. You can't keep people on edge constantly. There are immigrants in the vicinity of the hospital; no longer in the emergency room, on the street and there are still seven doctors on staff, and there are probably medical sick leave of professionals.
What did you convey to Mónica García in your meeting?
I limited myself to conveying our greatest concerns: the humanitarian and health catastrophe that we are experiencing and the problem of the population of Ceuta. On the one hand, we have thousands of people whose health, immune and vaccination status we do not know and who live in conditions that can favor the appearance of outbreaks. And, on the other hand, there is the local population, who may be afraid to go to the hospital and that can aggravate previous pathologies. We are also seeing a mental health problem. There are anxiety disorders, depression and children who cannot go outside. I have even been told the case of families with children with autism spectrum disorder or ADHD who have to leave them at home. And the other main problem, the lack of doctors. It is an endemic problem that is now aggravated and there are young doctors who are likely to leave our city due to circumstances.
The Government has announced temporary tents. Can they offer adequate sanitary conditions?
Let's see, they are better than on the street, but that reminds us of the war refugee camps we see on TV. The problem is: how temporary is it? Ceuta does not have the capacity to absorb 10,000 people or 10,000 more to enter at any time. That is the fear, that you are already in a situation of overflow.
What specifically do you ask of the Ministry of Health?
Well, something as simple as a reinforcement. The same happens with fires: when firefighters say that a situation is getting out of hand, troops from nearby municipalities, other communities or even the UME are mobilized. Something similar should happen here. It cannot be that, after 20 days, we continue with practically the same people and the same resources as at the beginning. We have gone through an avalanche, deaths and returns and now we are talking about about 10,000 people in the city, including around 3,000 minors. Many of them are in situations that escape health and humanitarian control. Ceuta does not have capacity.
All they are doing is patching, while they talk about enabling spaces or looking for solutions for the future. After 20 days, we should have found a solution. And, furthermore, we are seeing how conflict between groups increases, with injuries, traumas and attacks, which is generating a particularly worrying environment in peripheral neighborhoods.
