The management of the arrival in the Canary Islands of the cruise ship MV Hondius, on which a hantavirus outbreak has been declared, has generated discrepancies even within the Spanish Government itself. And these have to do with the obligation, or not, for Spanish passengers (who are asymptomatic) to undergo quarantine upon docking in Tenerife.
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, said that the quarantine was voluntary. While the Minister of Health, Mónica García, stressed that, if not for the will of the passengers themselves, they have legal instruments to force it to be carried out. But, what does the law really say.
The regulation to which the representative of the Health Portfolio refers is Organic Law 3/1986, of April 14, on Special Measures in Public Health Matters. In it there is no textual reference to a 'quarantine', but it clearly empowers the Executive to take the measures it deems necessary to not endanger the health of the population.
Specifically, article 2 of the law reads as follows:
“The competent health authorities may adopt measures of recognition, treatment, hospitalization or control when rational indications are appreciated that allow supposing the existence of danger to the health of the population due to the specific health situation of a person or group of people or due to the sanitary conditions in which an activity is carried out”.
The third insists:
“In order to control transmissible diseases, the health authority, in addition to carrying out general preventive actions, may adopt the appropriate measures for the control of the sick, of persons who are or have been in contact with them and of the immediate environment, as well as those considered necessary in case of a transmissible risk.”
The controversy between Robles and Mónica García
Doubts arose after Margarita Robles explained that the operation to transfer the 14 Spanish citizens traveling on the MV Hondius to Spain was already prepared and that the preventive isolation planned at the Gómez Ulla Hospital in Madrid would be voluntary.
The passengers will be evacuated in a medicalized military aircraft and subsequently transferred from the Torrejón Air Base to the Madrid hospital center for medical follow-up, he detailed.
The Minister of Defense commented that those affected will have to sign an informed consent to undergo quarantine, as it is a measure that implies isolation in individual rooms. Furthermore, she reported that the Spanish passengers are asymptomatic and that the protocol applied will not be the same as that used in infectious units such as those for Ebola, although strict prevention and protection measures will be maintained to avoid contagion.
After these statements, the Minister of Health assured that she will use “all the legal instruments” at her disposal to guarantee public health in the face of the detected hantavirus cases. She insisted that the necessary measures will be adopted and pointed out that she trusts that those affected will want to receive protection and medical attention.