This week, hundreds of people took to the streets of Torrevieja to visibly protest the state of healthcare in the town, specifically following the change of management at Torrevieja Hospital, reverting it back to public from a joint private/public management model, described as a disastrous situation by many, and which has shown no signs of improving in the year since the revision took place.
The mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón (PP), accompanied the protesters who walked the streets of the municipality in protest at the precariousness of health care in the health department, stating that, “I haven’t seen so many outraged people on the streets in a long time.”
After the demonstration, the mayor spoke more about the situation, “This does not seem to be solved”.
Dolón once again said, “it had been a long time since he had seen so many people outraged in the streets of Torrevieja with the health policy of the Generalitat”, the regional government of the PSOE. “An emergency plan is needed now. This cannot continue like this because it is not only the emergency room, nor the hospital, it is the two large health centres.”
The often shocking situation at the hospital has been highlighted for some time, but as well as that, queues and waiting times have been increasing in health centres. Whereas some of the problems were blamed on the increase in the population during summer, that excuse no longer washes as we head into October, where waiting times to see a GP for an appointment at the La Mata clinic, for example, are still 2 weeks.
“I am going to wait until the end of this month to speak again with Minister Miguel Mínguez, but my feeling is that of the most absolute passivity on the part of the Government of the Generalitat . As of October, we are going to be much more forceful”, announced the mayor.
His words coincide with those of the workers at the hospital who, starting next week, are going to raise demonstrations at the doors of the hospital, the health centres and even before the Conselleria de Mínguez in Valencia. “I absolutely support everything that comes out of the works council because they are the ones who work there, they know what is happening and how to solve it,” Dolón assured.
In the mayor’s opinion, it is difficult to assess the impact of this loss of quality assistance in tourism in the municipality. “But what is a fact is that complaints have multiplied and from being a municipality with the best quality of care we have become one of the worst. And in a very short time, because in Alzira the process lasted much longer. Here the loss of quality has been noticed in six months”.
