SEVILLE Oct. 2 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, RocÃo Hernández, defended this Wednesday that the Andalusian health system is immersed in “a process of continuous improvement” since the current government of Juanma Moreno (PP-A) came to the Board, as well as the need to carry out a “very honest management of public money” by the administration, because “the resources are finite” and “we owe it to the Andalusians to make the best use” of those funds, with the ultimate “purpose” of that the citizens of this community “be healthier.”
This is what the counselor has conveyed in her response to a question about general health policy that Vox deputy Rafael Segovia has conveyed to her in the plenary session of Parliament, who has asked the counselor “not to make us commune with millstones.” ” regarding issues related to health such as the Nile Virus outbreak that currently affects Andalusia.
The counselor thanked the Vox parliamentarian for his proposals and refused to fall into “a conformist or complacent tone with the situation” of the Andalusian public health system, although she considered it “evident” that it “is in a process of continuous improvement since the arrival of this government”, something that, as has been explained, “is evident from the evolution of most of the health indicators” published both by the Andalusian Health Service and at the national level.
Thus, he highlighted figures such as that, “between 2019 and 2024, the Health budget has increased by 44.74 percent, 36 percent investment in Primary Care has been reached, 64 new health facilities have been launched.” , with seven hospitals among them, so “the map of our health system is now broader and of higher quality thanks to the 678 million euros invested in equipment,” as assessed.
However, he has pointed out that “it is essential that we be critical of the health management that is carried out”, and from his Ministry they will be “the most critical”, because they have “the data”, and their analysis “allows the establishment of contingency measures to alleviate the weaknesses and challenges faced by the system”, derived, for example, from the “progressive aging of the population due to a longer life expectancy”, which translates into greater “care pressure and pharmacology derived from chronic pathologies”, as he continued to explain.
THE CHALLENGE OF MENTAL HEALTH
The counselor has also referred to mental health as “another of the great challenges we face”, and along these lines she has pointed out that “the increase in the demand for care for mental pathologies or, ultimately, the increase in cases linked to suicidal behavior, leads us to invest more resources and efforts”, and has highlighted data such as that “from January to July of this year, almost 840,000 consultations have been carried out in the area of ​​mental health, 4% more than the previous year”, and that “we have already reached close to a thousand mental health specialists in Andalusia”.
RocÃo Hernández has also pointed out that in her department the situation of waiting lists for surgery or consultations is “concerning”, and in this regard she has defended that “reducing” them “requires a titanic effort” on the part of health professionals, who thus thanked them for their “daily work”.
The counselor has cited the Health Guarantee Plan launched by the Board and has celebrated that “until the month of August” “favorable” data has been recorded such as that “9.5 percent more interventions have been carried out than in 2023”, or that 10.2 million outpatient consultations have been reached — “two percent more than in 2023 and 14 percent more than in 2019″ –, and 7.9 million diagnostic tests, ” three percent more than in 2023.”
However, RocÃo Hernández has pointed out that “it is not enough”, and “we need to complete our staff of doctors to go even faster”, although it is “encouraging data that indicates that we are working on this problem and that measures are put in place when necessary “, he defended.
The counselor has also alluded to the “deficit of doctors that is straining all the country’s health systems”, and has advocated for “continuing to work on retaining talent”, because “we cannot afford to lose a single doctor.” . In this regard, he highlighted that “currently around 90 percent of the MIRs – internal resident doctors – who carry out their training stay in Andalusia”, and “we need” that figure to be “one hundred percent”.
Likewise, he has defended that, “as far as it depends” on the Andalusian Government, “there is an evident improvement in the working conditions” of health professionals, whose “committed work” he has insisted on vindicating, as they constitute “the fundamental pillar on the which rests on the improvement of the quality of care offered to Andalusians”, as he stressed, concluding by emphasizing that “the improvement of our health system is a process that has already begun”.
VOX INTERPELLATION
For his part, Vox deputy Rafael Segovia has reproached the counselor for not responding to “practically anything” of what he has conveyed to him in his first intervention, in which he has pointed out that “his beginnings” in the position after his appointment last July “have generated some doubts.
The representative of Vox has asked the counselor about the figure of “500 uncovered family doctor positions” offered by her predecessor, Catalina GarcÃa, and has asked her to explain “how they have calculated it”, because “it seems” that it really The deficit of these places “exceeds the figure of a thousand.”
Rafael Segovia has also warned of the situation of “the famous MIRs who finished the Family specialty this year in September instead of May”, and that “they have found the bag closed and cannot register for the single bag which, furthermore, does not “is updated for numerous categories since 2021, which is causing disastrous consequences for professionals and for the system.”
Likewise, he warned the counselor that “to recover Primary Care it is not enough to offer doctors stable contracts”, but that “we must correct the existing economic imbalances with respect to hospital care”, as well as that “there is a lack of paediatricians “, and “the percentage of Andalusian children who are not assisted by a pediatrician when their parents take them for consultation ranges approximately between 20 percent of those in Malaga and 80 percent of those in Huelva.”
The Vox deputy has also referred to the situation of surgical waiting lists with which Andalusia is “among the worst of all the communities in Spain”, and to that of external consultations, and on all these issues he has highlighted the counselor who “has the budget” to improve this situation.
Finally, Rafael Segovia has also denounced in his speech the “unworthy territorial imbalances in health matters” that occur in Andalusia and has pointed out the need, in his opinion, to hire “a sufficient number of nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, speech therapists and social workers”, among other issues.