The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has demanded explanations from the Health Department of the Community of Madrid for the "apparent alteration" of the data on surgical waiting lists at Ramón y Cajal Hospital.
García has shared on her profile on the social network X the letter sent to the Madrid Department, in which she requests clarifications following the information published by "El País," which indicates that two medical chiefs at the hospital would have downplayed the severity of certain patients to improve the official waiting figures for interventions, without the knowledge of the surgeons.
In the letter, the head of Health asks for details about what happened and about "its possible replication in other centers," as well as information about the actions taken to correct the situation.
Likewise, the minister demands "guarantees" regarding the control and supervision mechanisms of the waiting lists by the Department, as well as about the "truthfulness of the data" sent to the Ministry of Health through the National Health System.
García reminds in her letter that Article 40 of the General Health Law assigns to the General Administration of the State the competence to establish health information systems and prepare statistics of general interest that "guarantee reciprocal information and communication" between the state health administration and those of the autonomous communities.
"Of course there is makeup" in the waiting lists
Later, in an interview on "Hora 25" of Cadena SER, Mónica García stated that it is "clear that there is makeup of the waiting lists" and that this reality "is not anecdotal."
"This happens in many hospitals," the minister assured, recounting that during her career as a doctor she has seen "lists of patients that remain in limbo." She insisted, in any case, that these practices "are done behind the backs of the surgeons."
According to the head of Health, "making up the lists" has become "a political" and "electoral" tool. At the same time, she admitted that it is complex to investigate, as it involves "private documents" and "of extreme sensitivity," prepared with data directly provided by the autonomous communities.
In this context, he has criticized that the figures from the Community of Madrid "are not reliable." "It is striking that in a community where I have worked for many years, where we know the difficulties we have to reach a specialist and to reach an operating room, the average comes out to 42 days," he has pointed out, putting these data in contrast with "other health systems that have a greater investment per inhabitant."