A delegation from the Ministry of Health, headed by the Secretary of State for Health and president of the National Institute of Health Management (Ingesa), Javier Padilla, will travel to Ceuta next week with the aim of assessing how the current migration crisis is affecting the University Hospital and the Primary Care services of the autonomous city.
So far, neither the exact days of the trip nor the agenda of meetings that the delegation will hold have been set, in which technicians and several political officials from the Ministry, responsible for health competencies in Ceuta, will also participate, according to sources from the Government who have spoken to Europa Press.
The expectation is that Padilla will remain in the autonomous city for several days, on a visit that will take place eight days after the trip made by the Minister of Health, Mónica García, who will appear this Thursday in committee in Congress, in an extraordinary session, to account for her management in the face of this crisis.
García's stay in Ceuta generated intense political controversy, as, after returning to Madrid, she questioned the actions of the Ceuta Executive by stating that it was not "sufficiently agile" in enabling spaces to accommodate the newly arrived immigrants. She also described the warnings about a possible overcost or collapse of the public health system in the city as "xenophobia."
The president of Ceuta, Juan Jesús Vivas (PP), replied the next day to the minister by reminding her that "no one can give lessons to Ceuta on solidarity." Furthermore, he considered her actions "absolutely incorrect" and accused her of "trying to offload and evade responsibility by blaming the regional government."
Vaccination of immigrants in Ceuta
The Ministry of Health has summoned the autonomous communities for next Monday, August 24, to coordinate the supply of vaccines to the thousands of immigrants who remain irregularly in Ceuta after the massive jump from Morocco that began on July 30, in which about 80,000 people participated.
Health has called this meeting for Monday, August 24, with a single item on the agenda: "Solidarity mechanism for vaccines in relation to the situation in Ceuta," according to what the newspaper El Mundo published this Saturday.
Sources consulted by said medium have detailed that the department led by Mónica García, which holds health competencies in the autonomous city, intends to immunize immigrants moving through the city by administering the triple viral vaccine, as well as vaccines against diseases such as chickenpox, polio, tetanus, and diphtheria.