The Secretary of State for Health, Javier Padilla, has assured that the Minister of Health, Mónica García, has attended Parliament on "multiple occasions" and "always" when "something" has happened, thus rejecting that she can be accused of practicing "parliamentary escapism."
In an interview on "RNE" reported by Europa Press, Padilla referred to García's decision to attend Congress on August 27 to inform about the health situation in Ceuta, a few hours after the Popular Party demanded it. In this regard, he pointed out that the 'popular' request "many things, many times," but that the "reality" is that the Minister of Health has "appeared" without "any kind of problem" in other crisis situations, such as that of hantavirus.
The Secretary of State has announced that he will travel to Ceuta "in the coming days" and has justified that the minister has not yet traveled to the autonomous city, despite the fact that two weeks have passed since the irregular arrival of 70,000 people, again referring to the hantavirus crisis as a recent priority on the Ministry's agenda.
"If when I was in Tenerife they had told me that I had to go to appear before Congress, it would have seemed inappropriate," Padilla has stated, defending that the main function of the Ministry is to "resolve" the crisis and, once channeled, offer the "pertinent explanations" before the Chamber.
He also emphasized that the health system in Ceuta has been reinforced with 11.8 percent more professionals since 2021, and rejected that there is a "collapse" in care, as primary care has not had to suspend "daily activity," "there has not been a decrease in the number of attentions to the Ceuta population," nor has it been necessary to "cancel staff vacations."
According to him, there has also not been a significant drop in attendance at emergency services "beyond the first week" after the start of the migration crisis.
Padilla has pointed out gastroenteritis and scabies as the "two elements" that could be affecting the migrants who continue in Ceuta, pathologies that he has linked to "crowding, unsanitary conditions, and bad conditions" in the places where they "are living."