Talking about corruption in Madrid is talking about the PP. Because Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s party has been in the regional government for 30 years and because in the collective imagination of the people of Madrid the Lezo, Púnica, Gürtel, Tamayazo and many other cases are still remembered. Plots all crossed with each other for more than three decades of absolute majorities. Hence, the PSOE of Madrid has included in the framework presentation of the XV Regional Congress that will ratify the Minister for Digital Transformation and the Public Service, Óscar López, as general secretary, the creation of an Office to Fight Corruption. An initiative inspired by the Anti-Corruption Office that the socialist Government of the Balearic Islands created in 2016 and that the Popular Party and Vox closed in 2024.
The PSOE has set among its main objectives in Madrid the fight against corruption in a Community, where it understands that “day in and day out scandals also emerge” such as the latest ones due to the sale of masks during the pandemic in the Madrid City Council and the regional administration, the case of Ayuso’s boyfriend or the Vocational Training centers, where “an attempt is made to hide the truth of these matters due to the framework of the regional government.” It is time to ask, they say from the Madrid federation, “clarity, transparency and accountability.”
“It is not admissible to assume actions such as those that Mrs. Ayuso carries out without rendering the slightest account, in a clear conflict of interest, at least in the Quirón case,” the same interlocutors add. They refer to the fact that since 2022, the Community of Madrid “has paid more than 1,500 million euros to the Quirónsalud Group, outside of the management contract for the hospitals managed by the company.” And the change in criteria regarding the liquidation also coincided with the dismissal in July 2022 of the person who had been the General Comptroller of the Community for years.
And the Community of Madrid owes the four privately managed public hospitals of the Quirónsalud group in the region a total of 918 million euros, according to the annual report for the 2023 financial year of the global health giant Fresenius, owner since 2017 of the network of Quirón health centers in Spain. This makes the autonomous Administration the main debtor of the conglomerate with 25% of the total, although the regional Government has refused on several occasions to specify how much is owed, arguing that the pending liquidations are part of “a process live” in which the two parties discuss “euro to euro”. It so happens that the group in question is in turn the main client of the company of the regional president’s boyfriend, Alberto González Amador, who is being investigated for the alleged commission of two crimes of tax fraud and one of forgery in a commercial document.
The socialists argue that “we still do not know how much more this group will continue to pay, outside of the concession contract it has with the Community of Madrid itself.” So for the total eradication of corruption cases, the creation of this office “becomes more urgent every day.”
The presentation that will be discussed within the framework of the socialist conclave on the last weekend of January also includes a protocol and a public information channel on the sources of financing and ownership of regional media and institutional advertising expenditure. autonomous in object, amount and a half. Likewise, the creation of the Public Policy Evaluation Agency of the Community of Madrid will be promoted so that, under inspiration of the state model, it annually carries out the accountability of the policies with the greatest impact, from project management to the fulfillment of objectives. ,
The socialists dedicate special attention in their presentation to the state of public health in this region, after what they consider “the constant mistreatment of our public health by the right and the neoliberal policies of constant privatization that have generated structural problems in the system.” and that “they have deliberately generated a decrease in the quality of care, expelling the people of Madrid from the public system towards private healthcare.”
“The permanent underfinancing of the system, the constant mistreatment of health professionals, the endless waiting lists, the lack of necessary health centers or the deterioration and lack of investment in existing infrastructure – adds the text of the framework presentation – constitute an unaffordable cocktail for our population, and it is our duty to reverse it.” It is not trivial that the Community of Madrid continues to be the Spanish region that invests the least in health per inhabitant year after year, something unacceptable in a territory that should be the economic and social engine of the country. A mistreatment that the socialists extend “to health professionals, who, fed up with their poor working conditions, end up looking for alternatives in other territories.”
They therefore undertake to progressively increase – without specifying figures – health spending in Madrid destined to finance the public network and directly managed until it is comparable to the rest of the autonomous communities. This in addition to committing to review the public-private relationship, “auditing health care agreements, reviewing the intervention or participation of statutory medical personnel in subsidized or concessioned centers, and placing special emphasis on the billing of subsidized hospitals such as those of the Quirón group to the one where Ayuso’s boyfriend works.”
Primary care and maximum delays of 72 hours
For socialists, Primary Care is the jewel in the crown of the health system and the gateway to public health, so its permanent accessibility must be guaranteed for all Madrid residents, protecting this essential level of care. Unfortunately, “successive Popular Party governments have relegated Primary Care to last place in health investment, representing only 11% of the total.” Furthermore, since the arrival of Díaz Ayuso, “delays in appointments have increased from 3 days to 3 weeks, and the flight of professionals has reached critical levels, without being able to retain 65% of the Family MIRs or even a single pediatrician trained in 2024.” To reverse this situation, they propose a Strategic Plan that allows hiring personnel in all categories and reducing delays to a maximum of 48-72 hours to obtain an appointment with the family doctor.
The construction of new Health Centers will be another priority, since in the last 20 years the Popular Party has failed to fulfill its promises in this matter. The commitment is to tender and build 30 new Health Centers, providing them with modern equipment and additional health personnel, avoiding the duplication of professionals from other centers, which only generates dysfunctions.
Reconstruct out-of-hospital emergencies
The closure of the SUAP (Primary Care Emergency Services) in March 2020, during the pandemic, had an immediate impact, especially in rural areas, aggravating the collapse of hospital emergencies. Added to this is the lack of transparency and the growing privatization of health transportation, with an increase in spending on goods and services, which went from 64.6 million in 2020 to 90.2 million in 2023, and on ambulance transportation, from 45 million to 68.5 million in the same period. To reverse this situation, the PSOE is committed to reopening the 80 Continuing Care Points with complete teams (medicine, nursing and guards), returning close and safe Primary Care emergencies to the people of Madrid.
Reducing waiting lists: an unavoidable commitment
The Community of Madrid is the Autonomous Community with the lowest health investment per inhabitant, allocating less than 1,500 euros per inhabitant per year. “We must be aware and denounce that the underfinancing of SERMAS is the leading element that leads us to the deterioration of our Public Health,” denounce the socialists, who remember that since Díaz Ayuso was appointed President in 2019, the number of Madrid residents waiting of a medical appointment has gone from 600,000 to more than 1,000,000, and the average delay for diagnostic tests or Specialized Care has decreased. duplicated, exceeding 70 days.
A situation that has led to an exponential rise in the contracting of private health insurance in the Community of Madrid, which is why the PSOE understands that the Madrid right has promoted, with this model, two-speed healthcare depending on the economic resources of each family, “which compromises equality and equity in the access of all Madrid residents to health services.”
Faced with this, the socialists are betting on a true Comprehensive Plan Against Waiting Lists in the Community of Madrid, which allows our public hospitals to be sufficiently financed so that they can operate at full capacity during the morning and afternoon shifts and thus combat effectively, the exponential increases in our waiting times. “The Community of Madrid cannot afford any operating room, endoscope or hemodynamics room stopped in the afternoons,” they say.
Reproductive rights: eliminate barriers such as the objection
And regarding reproductive health, which should be a fundamental right and an essential pillar for the PSOE to build a more just and egalitarian society, it will be a priority to increase investment in the public network of sexual and reproductive health services, ensuring personnel specialized in gynecology, obstetrics and family planning. For this reason, they guarantee the right to safe, free and free abortion in all public hospitals, “eliminating barriers such as conscientious objection and offering confidentiality and psychological support.” Likewise, they believe it is necessary for there to be specific emotional, sexual and reproductive health centers or units for young people, with accessible hours, confidentiality and personnel sensitized to diversity and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and specific campaigns.
Invest in mental health, invest in the future
The protection of the health of Madrid residents is one of the fundamental pillars of our Welfare State and a fundamental right. And within this protection is mental health, which encompasses emotional, psychological and social well-being, affecting the way we act, feel and think. Not in vain, to the structural problems of Madrid’s public health system has been added the aggravated deterioration of our mental health after the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent consequences: loss of loved ones in especially painful circumstances, disruption of daily routine, sudden job changes, educational and social alterations in children and young people, self-harm attempts and suicidal thoughts, especially among the youngest.
The Community of Madrid occupies, once again, the last place in public investment in mental health per inhabitant. This insufficient financing does not allow us to respond to the growing needs of the population, which generates a progressive decline in the quality of services, aggravated by the lack of fundamental human resources. Added to this is the insufficiency of material and structural resources, such as day centers, hospital beds or insertion centers. This lack has only been mitigated by the professionalism, effort and dedication of health workers, but the lack of rigorous planning aggravates the existing deficiencies.
According to various studies, 30% of primary care requests have to do with mental health. Hence, the PSOE considers “crucial to guarantee agile, rapid, universal and equitable access to public mental health resources. This will significantly reduce waiting lists, both in Primary and Specialized Care, which currently have delays of months due to insufficient human and material resources.”
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