Representatives of the Platform for 100% Public Healthcare held a press conference, calling on the Valencian Regional Government to change its healthcare policy, as they have been demanding for five years.
The deterioration of the public healthcare service is having negative consequences for its users and is due to causes that are nothing more than increasing the profits of private healthcare.
The Torrevieja hospital was linked to the administrative concession with Ribera Salud and worked in synergy with the Vinalopo hospital, with which it shared everything: staff, resources, infrastructure and patients.
The budget I had planned for the expansion of the public hospital in Torrevieja was 11.1 million in 2023, but with the new government in 2024, that budget was frozen and reduced by 1.1 million.
The construction of a new health centre in Orihuela Costa and the expansion of the one in Guardamar were also budgeted for, but both have also been put on hold.
We are extremely concerned about the freeze on investment in infrastructure. Nothing has been done to improve the infrastructure of the various health centres in the region, such as La Loma 2, the San Miguel de Salinas health centre, the Los Montesinos outpatient clinic and the Orihuela Costa outpatient clinic, among others.
However, in January this year, Orihuela Town Council negotiated with Ribera Salud to build a hospital in Lomas de Cabo Roig.
However, neither the Orihuela nor the Torrevieja councils, which are the municipalities that contribute the most patients to the existing hospital in Torrevieja, have been willing to listen to us, despite our repeated requests for a meeting. This shows that their health policy is moving in a different direction from what our Platform advocates.
Det finns en tendens att dela upp och splittra alla sjukhustjänster för att lägga ut dem på entreprenad till den privata sektorn.
De förändringar som administrationen genomför går alla i samma riktning och gynnar privat sjukvård. Ett bevis på detta är att medicinska och kirurgiska undersökningar hänvisas till de privata Quirón-sjukhusen och de offentlig-privata Vinalopó-sjukhusen, och att icke-akuta sjukhusfall hänvisas till Quirón Salud-sjukhuset.
Allt detta visar på behovet av ett andra sjukhus eller en utbyggnad av det befintliga.
”Med Vinalopó-sjukhuset kontrakterat till Ribera Salud och Quirón-sjukhuset i Torrevieja ser vi på ett mer överdrivet sätt hur den regionala regeringen i Valencia stöder remisser till dessa centra.
Det är uppenbart att det vi begär från plattformen för offentlig hälso- och sjukvård inte är av något intresse för dem.