The Minister of Health, Mónica García, stated this Tuesday that she trusts that the autonomous communities will support the "new criteria for transparency and traceability" of waiting lists, after the alleged manipulation detected at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital and revealed by the newspaper 'El País'.
On the social network 'X', García emphasized that "Manipulating waiting lists, deceiving surgeons and patients, is neither new nor penalized," and recalled that precisely for this reason, in July, the new common indicators for waiting lists were presented to the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS).
At that time, the communities requested more time to study and approve these shared criteria, which will serve as the basis for the drafting of a new royal decree on waiting lists that will replace the one in force since 2003.
After insisting that "With patients' health, there is no playing around," the head of Health expressed her confidence that, this time, the autonomous communities will indeed give the green light to these indicators. In statements later sent to the media, she announced that they will be debated again in the CISNS "in the coming weeks."
ALLEGED MANIPULATION AT H. RAMÓN Y CAJAL
According to information published by 'El País', two medical chiefs at the Ramón y Cajal Hospital would have reduced the clinical priority of certain patients in order to improve the figures of their surgical waiting lists, without the knowledge of the involved surgeons.
The newspaper, which claims to have accessed internal documents and emails that evidence this alleged alteration, details that 57 patients included in the surgical waiting list of the Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology service went from preferential priority (intervention before 90 days) to normal priority (operation before 180 days). In this way, those responsible had more time to ensure that the operations were carried out within the official deadlines.
Mónica García indicated that the new system that is expected to be implemented through the future royal decree "will allow for a much better understanding of what happens with each patient throughout the process, from the moment they enter a waiting list until the test or intervention is finally carried out."
According to the minister, "This means more transparency, more traceability, and many more difficulties to manipulate the agendas or hide the waits," and she has accused the Government of the Community of Madrid of "once again putting seriously ill patients at risk to disguise their waiting data."
LAW TO SHORTEN JUDICIAL DEADLINES IN EUTHANASIA
On another matter, and in relation to the case of Francesc Augé, the head of Health has emphasized the importance of advancing the bill that aims to reduce judicial deadlines in euthanasia procedures, through the reform of the Organic Law Regulating Euthanasia (LORE) and the Law regulating Contentious-Administrative Jurisdiction.
García has stressed that "We are talking about a very personal right and an extremely painful situation. At this moment, a bill is already being processed in Congress precisely to prevent third-party appeals from blocking the effective exercise of the right to euthanasia for so long. We believe that this reform is necessary and hope that it can move forward."