Tuesday, July 2, 2024, 2:22 PM
More than 200 residents of the Raval neighbourhood of Cullera demonstrated this Tuesday in front of the Generalitat Palace to say “no to health cuts” this summer. Specifically against the closure of the health centre in this neighbourhood, which usually serves more than 4,000 patients, to which must be added the displaced people who spend their summer holidays in this coastal city of La Ribera.
“Since this health centre opened we have never had any cuts of any kind, and even less so in the summer,” says Virma, a resident of the neighbourhood, who explains that since Monday they have been without a doctor and regrets that this decision by the Ministry of Health has been made “without time to react” and “without informing us of another alternative.” “No one has told us where we have to go for a consultation that is not urgent,” she explains.
This Monday, some of the users who needed medical attention went to the Health Centre on Avenida Diagonal, “there they told us to go to the Emergency Department starting at three in the afternoon, an emergency room where there were hours of waiting,” Virma reports.
He stresses that the Raval is a neighbourhood with special characteristics, because the average age of the residents is very high. “They are elderly people with chronic illnesses and who need daily visits and treatments,” something that, he complains, has not been taken into account when making this decision.
The residents do not accept the justification of the Ministry that these measures are being adopted because there are no family doctors. “That is an issue that those responsible must resolve. We only ask that they do not take away our doctor. We are not asking for anything else, just that they leave us with what we have always had,” this resident stresses.
Furthermore, they say that they will continue with the demonstrations and demand their rights. It should be remembered that, in addition to this rally in front of the Palau de la Generalitat, they have been holding spontaneous demonstrations in recent weeks and that they now have the support of the City Council to continue with the demonstrations.
“Cullera will not tolerate the collapse of its health system, and as mayor I will hold the president of the Generalitat and the regional minister responsible for any incident that may occur due to the cuts this summer,” warned the mayor, Jordi Mayor, on Tuesday, recalling that, in a few months when the municipality is exponentially increasing its population, the rest of the health centres will be saturated.
The municipal official was also critical of the Ministry’s justification for closing this health centre. “Regarding the lack of doctors as a response, I have always said that the private health system does not close hospitals and outpatient clinics, whereas the public one is doing so.”
After the demonstration, in which residents demanded a decent and quality public health service and demanded responsibility, awareness and dignity, they handed in a letter with more than 1,400 signatures against the cuts at the Generalitat Presidency registry. To these were added another 800 that have been registered through the change.org platform.
The demonstration on Tuesday took place after the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, cancelled the meeting he had scheduled with the mayor for this Monday. The City Council regrets that, just two hours before the meeting, the head of the Ministry alleged last-minute changes in his agenda that prevented him from receiving the mayor, who planned to attend with local representatives but was also denied.
They also complain that the Health Department, in addition to the lack of doctors, justified the closure of the centre by the carrying out of some works. As an alternative, the municipality made the Cultural Centre of the Raval neighbourhood available to the Ministry to be used as a medical consultation. “A request that remains unanswered by the Minister.”
Structural problem, not cuts
Respecting the right of the citizens of Cullera to demonstrate, the manager of the Ribera health department, Rosabel Ribes, denies that there have been any cuts. “It is not about cuts, nor about political ideologies, it is a structural problem of a lack of doctors that affects the entire National Health System,” she says.
Furthermore, he explains that the department has a budget line to hire or reinforce the centres with more doctors, but insists on the same argument of “shortage of family doctors”, common to the whole of Spain. He also points out that they had planned to hire 6 MIR family doctors and that it has not been possible because their training does not end until September and the Ministry has not wanted to bring forward the completion of their training.
Ribes stresses that, in the face of these difficulties, it has been decided to “strengthen and centralise medical resources” at the Integrated Health Centre (CSI) on Avenida Diagonal, 5 minutes by car from the Raval and Oasis clinics. “It is a decision recommended by doctors based on the fact that the CSI has more means and resources than the other centres in Cullera and a greater capacity to deal with complex care and peaks in care.”
In addition, he points out that the Raval maintains nursing, midwifery, psychology, social worker and administrative staff services. And for anyone who cannot move due to reduced mobility, they will be transferred by home care services.
He explains that 260 additional hours of medical care have been planned for the Emergency PAC of the Integrated Health Centre and two doctors have been assigned to the Oasis PAC, one more than in 2023. The number of activity modules has also been increased to cover the holidays of the doctors of the Cullera Basic Zone.
“We are convinced that health coverage for Cullera during this summer is guaranteed,” he asserts, adding that the situation will be evaluated and that the necessary measures will be adopted in the event of higher than expected peaks in care, although always “subject to the availability of doctors.”
The councillor accuses the mayor of Cullera of “politicising” health
The Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, has accused the mayor of Cullera, Jordi Mayor, of “politicising” health, something that he considered “unacceptable” on the part of the municipal leader, and has criticised the mayor for the fact that, for example, last summer in the municipality “they did not have SAMU and did not protest”. The minister, in the press conference following the meeting of the Consell, on the meeting scheduled with Mayor for this Monday, explained that “when the mayor of Cullera asked me for an appointment, I kindly gave it to him, as with all mayors, because my obligation is to satisfy the health needs of the population”, but that his “surprise” was that the mayor wanted to attend this meeting with “the general secretary of the Socialist Party of the Valencian Country” and Minister of Science, Diana Morant. Regarding the works at the centre, Marciano has indicated that the Occupational Risk Prevention Service “has been saying for eight years that it had to be renovated and cleaned up” and that it has “found out from the mayor’s statements that they were under an amount of 11,000 euros”. That is why he has questioned that, “after eleven years and 11,000 euros, if there was so much interest, these works could not have been done”, and he has defended that, now, his department is going to “clean up and tidy up, just as the Occupational Risk Prevention Service tells us”.
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