The Minister of Health, Isabel Ayala, has extraordinarily attended the plenary session of the Regional Assembly, at the request of the opposition groups, to clarify the ongoing investigation into the alleged millionaire fraud linked to the use and billing of irregular surgical material in the Murcian Health Service (SMS).
Ayala has defended that her department has acted with "total transparency, technical rigor, and diligence" and has stressed that the judicial case originates from an internal audit promoted by the Community's own Health Services Inspection, and not from an external complaint.
"The Ministry is the one that reports, and the SMS is a party as an injured party; we are victims of this alleged economic fraud," emphasized the minister, who detailed the disciplinary measures adopted against the workers allegedly involved in the network.
As she explained, once the internal audit was completed in November 2024, the facts were sent to the Prosecutor's Office, and three professionals from Health Area 1 were suspended from their duties, with suspension of employment and salary: two heads of the Comprehensive Provision Unit and the head of the Interventional Vascular Radiology Section.
The head of Health specified that there are currently 13 people under investigation by the court and that among them "there are no political officials." She described the case as an economic scam based on the "manipulation of surgical parts to inflate invoices."
"It has not been verified that expired prostheses have been implanted," said Ayala, who insisted that the SMS has reviewed one by one all the patients treated by the doctor in question at a concerted center, without any adverse clinical effect being detected.
"It is irresponsible to sow false alarms using people's health as a political tool to cover up the PSOE's corruption," the minister reproached, directing her criticism at the socialist bench.
Reinforcement of inspection and economic control
Ayala detailed a package of control measures activated since 2025. Among them, she highlighted the reinforcement of the Health Inspection Service with the incorporation of 15 new professionals —medical, pharmaceutical, and nursing inspectors—, along with the creation of a specific economic control unit within the Inspection itself, staffed with four inspectors in charge of auditing the purchases of the regional health system.
To these actions is added the upcoming launch of the new Regional Registry of Implantable Prostheses, a technological tool designed to ensure complete traceability of any device, from its entry into the warehouse to its use in the operating room.
The minister assured that the Community "will go to the end" to recover the defrauded money by what she defined as "colluding criminals", and sent a message of confidence in the Murcian healthcare system and in the work of its more than 29,000 active professionals.
The opposition demands Ayala's resignation
In her turn to reply, the deputy from the Socialist Parliamentary Group, María Soledad Sánchez, accused Ayala of "lying from the first minute" and maintained that her appointment by the regional president, Fernando López Miras, is intended to "control everything and cover up the plot".
Sánchez recalled that Ayala was the Director General of Healthcare Assistance between 2021 and 2023, a position linked to the presidency of the body that selects and approves prostheses, and later manager of the SMS. She also alluded to the reports from the Economic and Fiscal Crimes Unit (UDEF), pointing out that the National Police describe a structural network maintained for more than 15 years. "It is foolish to pretend that citizens believe that none of you found out anything," she reproached.
From the Popular Parliamentary Group, the deputy María del Carmen Ruiz Jódar equated the strategy of the PSOE and Vox, assuring that both act coordinated as a "pincer" and represent "exactly the same thing". She accused the Vox spokesperson, Ignacio Arcas, of acting as "the crutch of the worst socialism" and framed the appearance as a "maneuver typical of the sewers of Ferraz and Moncloa" to divert attention from cases of state scope.
"This week it was Murcia's turn to turn on the fan before a big week of sanchismo, which has more than 80 defendants among family members, ministers, and directors general," said Ruiz Jódar, who recalled other complaints from the left in healthcare matters that, according to her, turned out to be "a farce or are archived by the Court of Auditors", such as the alleged dismantling of the Rafael Méndez hospital, commissions for referrals to the private sector, or breast cancer screenings.
Faced with what she described as "a shady lynching," the PP deputy defended the regional Executive's model and stressed that "if this fraud is being investigated, it is solely and exclusively because the Ministry of Health raised the alarm." She compared this action—immediately dismissing the technicians and reporting the facts—to cases like the 'Koldo case.' "We report crimes; if we were socialists, we would have used plumbers to cover it up and coerce the press," she concluded.
The Vox spokesperson, Ignacio Arcas, maintained that the prosthesis scandal reflects "the exhaustion and rot" surrounding López Miras's Government after years of "a sense of impunity." He accused the PP of trying to hide corruption in the SMS and rejected the "pincer movement" theory, stating that the only pincer movement "is the one Spaniards had to put on their noses to vote for Rajoy's PP" and calling the 'Populars' the true "coalition" of the PSOE in Brussels.
Arcas reproached Ayala for currently heading the Ministry of Health after having been the highest responsible for the areas where irregularities allegedly occurred since 2021, as director of Healthcare Assistance. "If she didn't realize in four years what was right in front of her, she should leave; and if she knew and consented to it, she should resign," he stated, warning that the latest report commissioned by the judge "will blow up the Government" and predicting a short political future for it.
From the Mixed Group, the Podemos-IU-AV deputy, María Marín, demanded the immediate resignation of the minister, whom she accused of being "up to her neck in corruption" and of being "part of the problem." She stressed that Ayala directed the SMS between 2023 and 2026, a period during which, she said, the scheme operated "with her knowledge and complacency." "The truth will come to light. She had better tell it here and not in Sangonera prison," she declared from the tribune.
The deputy José Luis Álvarez-Castellanos, on behalf of IU-Verdes, questioned the version that it is only an economic fraud without political repercussions. "How is it possible that an issue with no political relevance began with the dismissal of the previous Minister of Health?" he asked, casting doubt on the thesis defended by the regional government.