The PSOE-A candidate for the Junta de Andalucía, María Jesús Montero, has presented in Cádiz her healthcare proposal under the slogan “Montero Plan. The new Andalusian public healthcare”, which she places as the central axis of her electoral campaign for the elections on May 17.
Montero has framed the election as a “referendum for health”, focusing on the situation of the Andalusian healthcare system and the need for a structural reform.
Eliminating waiting lists as a central axis
The main measure of the socialist program is the elimination of waiting lists by law, with a calendar that the candidate defines as a priority for her first year of government.
Among the announced commitments, the intention stands out that patients can access their family doctor in a maximum of 48 hours, as well as the elimination of delays in Primary Care within a period of six months.
In addition, the plan contemplates setting new legal limits for healthcare:
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30 days for diagnostic tests
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120 days for interventions in frequent pathologies
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180 days for less common operations
Currently, close to two million Andalusians are on waiting lists, according to data from the Ministry of Health, which represents around 10% of the population.
Financing and strengthening of the public system
To sustain these measures, Montero has linked her proposal to a new model of regional financing, which would allow Andalusia to have 5,700 million additional euros per year.
From that amount, he/she/it has indicated that he/she/it would allocate 3,000 million annually to public healthcare, with the aim of increasing healthcare spending per inhabitant and strengthening the Andalusian Health Service (SAS).
The candidate has defended that this investment is key to reverse the current situation, marked by healthcare pressure after the pandemic and the non-compliance with the maximum care deadlines established in the current regulations.
An announcement in full social mobilization
The presentation of the plan occurs at a time of special tension in the healthcare sector, on the eve of the mobilizations called by the White Tides throughout Andalusia to protest the deterioration of the system, the lack of staff, and the increase in waiting lists.
The announcement, therefore, is also interpreted as a strategic move to place healthcare at the center of the political debate during the campaign.
Political context in the Andalusian PSOE
The event in Cádiz has also served to relaunch the socialist campaign after a previous day marked by internal tensions in the provincial organization.
The confrontation between the regional leadership and the PSOE leadership in Cádiz had projected an image of division in a key territory, where the party risks an important part of its parliamentary representation.
With this health plan, Montero seeks to reorient the focus towards programmatic proposals and consolidate public healthcare as the main electoral argument of the PSOE-A.