Friday, June 28, 2024, 2:01 PM
The Ministry of Health has assured that this summer it has planned more healthcare resources for the basic health area of Cullera than in the previous year, since “not only will the same centres remain open as in 2023, but also, in some cases, the number of staff is increased, the hours are extended and a SAMU ambulance is incorporated.”
These demonstrations have been carried out after criticism from the Cullera City Council, which has promoted a protest on the 2nd against the “cuts” in health matters. One of the main ones is the closure of the Raval Auxiliary Center during the summer.
Regarding this closure, the Ribera health department has explained that, at the request of the Occupational Risk and Prevention Service, reforms will be undertaken that “are already essential to ensure occupational hygiene and protection of workers” in certain areas. due to lack of maintenance in recent years. These works will begin next Monday, taking advantage of the summer period since the “care activity in this center is more intense in winter.”
During the renovation period, which affects the admissions area, general area and medical consultations, the home nursing service will be maintained for patients assigned to this centre, ensuring assistance to all those people with difficulty in travelling to the CSI Cullera. In addition, this auxiliary clinic will remain open during its usual hours with the services of psychology, midwife, social worker and the Sexual and Reproductive Health Unit.
However, the health department assures that in the rest of the centers the attention will be greater than in previous years since the Raval medical staff, the two doctors, will carry out their functions in the CSI Cullera and in the Oasis auxiliary center, respectively. . With this measure, the Ministry of Health reinforces, on the one hand, the Oasis auxiliary center, which is the reference center for the majority of the displaced population in Cullera. And on the other hand, the CSI Cullera is a reference center for the general population, in addition to being where attendees attend the two important music festivals held in the municipality.
In 2022 and 2023, the Continuous Care Point located at the CSI Cullera was only reinforced on Sundays and the days when the music festivals were taking place. “This year, the increase in care has been planned for every day of the week. In addition, during the course of the music festivals, three more doctors will be available 24 hours a day, there will be a 7-hour reinforcement in the morning on holidays, and the La Ribera Health Department will provide two nurses who will be part of the care team organizing the festivals.”
Regarding the Oasis auxiliary clinic, during this summer the Ministry of Health, “not only ensures the provision of services to users, but also doubles the medical staff, since in 2022 and 2023 the coverage was one doctor and this year it will be two. All this, while maintaining the usual opening hours,” health sources have stressed.
Another aspect criticised by the Cullera City Council has been that the El Faro auxiliary centre provides service only two mornings and one afternoon during the summer, a period in which pressure increases in this area due to the arrival of tourists. However, the Ribera health department assures that assistance to citizens will also be increased compared to the heavy summer. In July 2023, the opening of this centre was three mornings a week and two in the month of August; while this year it is guaranteed to open weekly for two mornings and one afternoon. That is, during the month of July the same service will be maintained and in August it will be extended by one afternoon compared to last year.
Petition to the Ministry
The Ministry of Health points to the structural shortage of doctors that affects not only the Valencian Community, but all of Spain, as the main cause of the measures that have had to be taken this summer. The Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, has repeatedly demanded that the central government provide immediate solutions to the difficult situation of the National Health System, within the framework of its powers.
For this reason and taking into account the uniqueness of Cullera, as a tourism receiving municipality that multiplies its population during the summer period, the Minister of Health has written to the mayor of Cullera, Jordi Mayor, in order to offer him to make a request. jointly with the Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities, Diana Morant, to expedite the homologation of university degrees for non-EU medical personnel.
“It is clear that the delay that the Ministry has accumulated in this matter, far from alleviating the shortage of professionals, is causing serious harm to Health and therefore to citizens,” says Gómez, who has sent Mayor the proposal of a letter that they would jointly sign for the assessment of the councillor from Cullera, to whom he also offers a meeting between the two at the headquarters of the Ministry to inform him first-hand of the planning of health resources that Cullera will have during this summer.
Llombai and Alfarb are left without a health centre
Cullera is not the only town in La Ribera that has shown its discomfort due to the reorganization of medical services during the summer. In the case of Marquesat, the management of the Ribera Health Department has reported that neither Llombai nor Alfarb will have medical consultation during the months of July, August and September by centralizing the entire service at the Catadau Health Center.
Medical care will be concentrated in Catadau with two doctors from Monday to Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Emergencies after 3:00 p.m. will be transferred to the CSI in Carlet. The councillors for Health of Alfarb, Catadau and Llombai, and the mayors of Catadau and Llombai have expressed their concern and discomfort at this announcement.
Municipal representatives have met with the manager of the Department, Rosabel Ribes, who has argued that the cause of the decrease in service is the lack of personnel to cover staff on vacation. The councilors and mayors have asked that the usual service be restored, something that will not be possible this year, and have reiterated the discomfort and inconvenience that this represents for these municipalities that see the population increase significantly in summer.
They also took the opportunity to express their complaints about the Paediatrics service, which is currently not covered, and about the reduction in the number of hours the Midwife can provide. “All of this increases the shortcomings in the medical care services that will be offered this summer and leaves the most vulnerable people more unprotected,” said the representatives of Marquesat.
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