The arrival of September has once again brought images of saturation at the hospital in La Paz, where in the last few hours up to 70 people were waiting to be admitted to the emergency room, according to health unions. “We have been denouncing it since the summer, there are fewer and fewer staff and what’s more, they are not letting them go or replacing them,” denounces Marisol Castro, from CCOO. The lack of staff is forcing beds to be closed, 382 out of just over 1,000 available at the center.
The spokesman for the Government of the Community of Madrid, Miguel Ángel García, denied that the situation is due to Health scrimping on funds. “There is no austerity plan related to La Paz or its emergencies. Every time there is a greater demand, the necessary means are put in place to minimize the impact and that is what the Ministry of Health is working on,” he said to media questions after the press conference that followed the Government Council.
The government spokesman spoke of “unforeseen demand,” but the episode is recurrent and occurs in the months of July and September, according to Daniel Bernabeu, president of the Amyts doctors’ union and delegate specifically in La Paz. “It is a problem that we report chronically and that is due to inadequate planning. Summer vacations are not replaced for economic or personnel reasons or because these positions are not attractive enough. In July and September, the population is practically normal while the beds are reduced by up to 30%. “In this way, it is impossible to manage emergencies properly,” he protests.
“In a committee in July with directors of La Paz, they told us that they had decided not to make replacements,” Castro recalls. “Today there is a peak, with about 400 beds closed, if the entire hospitalization is full, there is no staff to open the beds and [los enfermos] They stay in the emergency room,” he sums up.
