The recently appointed deputy general director of Prevention and Training of the Ministry of Health, María Garcés Sánchez, has had more than close collaboration with pharmaceutical companies in recent years. As a pediatrician by profession in a health center in the Natzaret neighborhood, in Valencia, and member of the Fisabio Vaccine Area (Foundation for the Promotion of Health and Biomedical Research) and the Vaccine Advisory Committee of the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, he has collected 146,000 euros in the years 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023, according to the public Transparency records of the companies Astrazeneca, GSK, Moderna, MSD, Pfizer and Sanofi. This billing to the large laboratories was carried out by Garcés before accessing this freely appointed position in the Generalitat Valenciana to which he recently joined.
Sources from the Ministry of Health defend the previous work of the pediatrician, who is also an associate professor at the Catholic University of Valencia, but argue that it is not their responsibility to evaluate her work with pharmaceutical companies. “In his current position he will not carry out work with pharmaceutical companies, although he could do so as long as there was no conflict of interest,” they indicate. The same sources have evaluated the work of María Garcés and her resume to occupy her current position in the Ministry of Health. “Your past will not affect the decisions you make,” they point out.
According to the organizational chart of the Ministry of Health, the position of deputy director of Prevention and Training of the Ministry of Health, María Garcés Sánchez has the powers to “define the criteria regarding vaccination of the child and adult population of the Valencian Community, as well as such as the management of the vaccine program in said area, in collaboration and coordination with the rest of the autonomous communities through the coordination mechanisms established in the National Health System. It must also “design, manage, analyze and evaluate vaccination plans and programs” and “identify deficiencies in vaccination coverage, as well as analyze the health determinants that cause certain inequalities and propose appropriate intervention levels.”
Chronologically and according to the transparency records of the different pharmaceutical companies that do not yet contemplate 2024, the current deputy general director earned more than 28,000 euros in 2023 for collaborations with laboratories: 1,124 with Astrazenaca, 7,193 with GSK, 1,426 euros with Moderna, 5,774 with MSD and 12,572 with Sanofi. Of this amount, 20.00 euros were in fees, 3,600 in expenses for the provision of services and another 3,800 for accommodation expenses.
In 2022, the pediatrician’s billing for these concepts skyrocketed to 48,611.80 euros. Astrazeneca transferred 3,149.66 euros to the doctor, GSK 11,262.66 euros, MSD 3,362 euros, Pfizer 12,937 euros and Sanofi 17,889.61 euros. In this case, the fees exceeded 40,000 euros, the expenses for providing services were 2,076 and the payment for travel amounted to 3,181 euros.
In 2020 and 2021, during the COVID pandemic, collaboration with pharmaceutical companies continued to be important. 33,555 euros the year the pandemic broke out and 32,222 euros in 2021. Collaborations in 2020 ranged between 9,200 for services to MSD, 9,636 euros with Pfizer and 8,840 euros with Sanofi. In 2021, Pfizer paid 14,287 euros, the highest service, in addition to 6,881 euros from Sanofi, 5,099 euros from MSD, 4,529 from GSK and 1,425 euros from Astrazeneca.
The information on the payments of doctors and researchers with pharmaceutical laboratories is public and can be consulted on their transparency portals. The companies publish the transfers they have made to hundreds of Spanish doctors for their collaborations. In the case of María Garcés, she is a highly sought-after professional for her pedagogy and dissemination capacity.
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