The Compromís deputy and spokesman for Health, Carles Esteve, has denounced that “one of the most devastating and paradigmatic aspects of Carlos Mazón’s first year at the head of the Generalitat is having given the concessionaires of health management more than 112 million euro of public money in the form of various perks”.
As Compromís explains, the main beneficiaries of these gifts from Mazón are Ribera Salud and Sanitas, which have managed or still manage health departments. The money, which should belong to all Valencians, includes the 15 million forgiven to Ribera Salud for not building the new health centres in Dénia and Calp, which was required by the concession contract.
In the same department, we must add the CT scan in Dénia, worth 400,000 euro, which disappeared from the Hospital after the reversal, and the investment of 2 million that the Ministry now has to make in radiological equipment because Ribera Salud left the remaining material in such poor condition that it could no longer be used. In addition, the Ministry had to put in an extra 3 million euro just to carry out the reversal to guarantee assistance in the Hospital. “The PP government does not want to even talk about asking Ribera Salut to pay for all this, which it is obliged to do.”
In the case of Sanitas, we find a cancellation of 47.6 million euro of the debt it has with the Generalitat once the concession of the Manises hospital has ended, a figure to which must be added the 11 million euro in investments in infrastructure that this company has not made in this health department, which it was obliged to do and which the Consell de Mazón has also overlooked, and the 12 million that the government has had to put in only after the reversal to guarantee the quality of care.
In Torrevieja, Ribera Salud has also failed to fulfil its commitment to undertake the widening of the Torrevieja Hospital CV-95 road, which entails an investment of 19.5 million, in addition to not having undertaken the renewal of diagnostic and technological equipment for an amount of 3 million euro.
For Esteve, “the worst thing of all is to think that with all that money, which is sorely needed, what could be done? For example, these 112 million would be enough to build 3 or 4 regional hospitals with perfect equipment. Or to hire 2,000 psychologists in health centres, who would already be providing mental health care.”
“Our fear is that the PP government will continue to forgive the debt that these companies still have with the Generalitat. Not counting the last few years, from 2021 to 2024, for which there is still no data; from the previous period, the health concessionaire companies owe the Valencian public treasury 411.1 million euro. We are very afraid that the debt forgiveness that Mazón will make to his friends in private health will continue to grow, it is a scandal,” the parliamentarian concluded.
