The Spanish Society of General and Family Physicians (SEMG) has expressed its "special concern" about the risk that the situation in Ceuta following the migration crisis may end up generating an excessive burden on health and social services, and that essentially social and humanitarian problems may end up being transferred to the health system in the absence of sufficient alternatives.
In this scenario, the SEMG sees it as essential to reinforce coordination between Health and Social Services, provide more resources, and establish specific circuits that allow for a quick response to the detected needs, avoiding that all the weight falls solely on health centers, emergency services, and the professionals working in them.
"The response to a situation of this nature must necessarily combine humanity, institutional coordination, protection of vulnerable people, and also protection of those who care for them," said the president of the SEMG, Pilar Rodríguez.
In this context, the scientific society has offered its support to the institutions and health and social teams in the city. The SEMG has sent letters to the Official College of Physicians of Ceuta, addressed to its president, José Enrique Roviralta; to the National Institute of Health Management (INGESA) in Ceuta, directed to its territorial director, Jesús Ignacio Lopera, and to the Department of Health and Social Services of the Autonomous City of Ceuta, for its counselor, Nabila Benzina.
At the same time, the Presidency of the SEMG has directly reached out to its Ceuta members to convey closeness and support, and to make themselves available to the colleagues who are facing this reality on the ground.
With all this, the medical society aims to put its professional experience and capacity for cooperation at the service of these institutions, with the goal of contributing, within its scope of action, to an adequate response to a situation where care, social, and humanitarian needs coincide, and which, in its view, requires the coordination of the different administrations and services involved.
This collaboration is always framed within the context of a scientific society, through scientific and technical advice, the training of professionals, the development or revision of protocols and care procedures, the detection of professional needs, and other scientific-professional actions in which "the experience of the SEMG may be useful," he adds.
From the SEMG, the relevance of ensuring "dignified and adequate" care for people in vulnerable situations is emphasized, while preserving the response capacity of public services in Ceuta and protecting the professionals who are facing this situation on the front line.
INGESA studies cooperation formulas with the SEMG
According to the SEMG, the Territorial Directorate of INGESA in Ceuta has thanked the offer and has expressed its willingness to explore possible avenues of collaboration depending on how care needs evolve.
The SEMG has reiterated that it maintains its willingness to collaborate, within the role that corresponds to it as a scientific society, both through scientific and technical advice and by promoting the dissemination among its members and professionals of a possible formal call from INGESA for those doctors who, voluntarily, may be interested in providing temporary support in Ceuta. Both parties have agreed to hold a meeting to specify these possible lines of cooperation.
At the same time, the SEMG has taken advantage of this institutional contact to convey its recognition and support to the healthcare and social professionals in Ceuta, who carry out their work in a particularly complex context, with a high care load and a strong emotional impact.
"Behind any institutional response are the professionals who ultimately attend to, accompany, and respond to the specific needs of people. That is why, alongside the care for those in vulnerable situations, we also have the responsibility to care for and protect those who care," Rodríguez has indicated.
For this reason, the SEMG has requested that its recognition and support be extended to all professionals who are working these days in the city and has reiterated its willingness to participate in those initiatives where its experience may be of help.
"Our offering arises, above all, from the will to accompany our healthcare colleagues from Ceuta and to let them know that they are not alone. As a scientific society, we want to contribute from what we can offer: knowledge, training, professional support, capacity for dialogue and, when necessary, dissemination among our members of the initiatives formally articulated by the Administration," concluded the president of the SEMG.