Home » News » The Minister of Health says that Madrid breaches the ratio of beds for phase 1, but can reach it | Madrid

The Minister of Health says that Madrid breaches the ratio of beds for phase 1, but can reach it | Madrid

Enrique Ruiz-Escudero, Health Minister of the Community of Madrid, has acknowledged this Friday that the Community of Madrid is not strictly meeting the quantitative criteria of the central government right now to go to phase 1 of the de-escalation, as requested. In any case, the decree that regulates the phase changes leaves a margin of five days to fulfill the requirements, and speaks of “having, or having access to, or the ability to install”, which is now being accepted by the Madrid Executive. Although the member of the Executive of Isabel Díaz Ayuso has defended the decision to go to phase 1, which caused the resignation of the director general of Public Health, Yolanda Fuentes on Thursday, her own comparison of the current requirements and resources of the health system Madrid has shown that the region would have to face an expansion of its infrastructure before Monday. “The flexibility of the system has been demonstrated,” said Ruiz-Escudero.

The government requires that there be two beds of intensive care units for every 10,000 inhabitants, which in Madrid would translate into 1,400, according to what the counselor recalled, specifying that the Community has 1,350 beds of this type right now, although it had 1,942 during the height of the crisis. The same goes for hospital beds. Nor does Madrid meet the criteria of the Ministry of Health there, Ruiz-Escudero has acknowledged: the central government claims between 37 and 40 beds per 10,000 inhabitants, which would translate into 24,750 beds in the lowest section of the fork. The Community, said the counselor, currently has 17,000, although it has grown to 24,730 without counting the Ifema hospital or the medicalized hotels. That is, the criterion could be met, but it is not met right now.

There are other figures that complicate Madrid’s claims. Right now there are 537 people admitted to beds in intensive care units. Before the crisis began, the public system had 540. Consequently, to this day, Madrid has full capabilities (without counting on private centers) for a normal situation.

These data explain why the central government has already transferred its more than possible refusal to the Community of Madrid to accelerate the return to normality, relaxing the measures of confinement and physical distancing: it would have to trust that on Monday there will be resources that today they do not exist.

“But do not say that Madrid has no capacity, because it has demonstrated it,” Ruiz-Escudero said during an appearance in the Assembly’s Health commission. “The responsiveness, the flexibility, has been demonstrated,” he continued. And he has released: “The one that has to guarantee if we comply to pass is the government of the nation. It is not in our hands to guarantee that we meet the requirements. ”

In addition, the Minister of Health has made a closed defense of the decision to go to phase I of the de-escalation. “We have the support of healthcare data: 83% fewer hospitalizations, 64% fewer ICU beds in the last month, the number of patients in primary care has decreased significantly, from 24,081 in the peak, to 2,244 in May, a decrease of almost 90% ”, he explained to the opposition, which as a whole has expressed doubts about the decision. “We also have an expandable healthcare capacity. This is the information that gives us the measure of the situation in the face of de-escalation. ”

It was not the only topic discussed in the commission. The resignation on Thursday of Carmen Yolanda Fuentes, general director of Public Health of the Community of Madrid, in protest at the decision to request phase 1 against her criteria has marked the day. The regional government submitted his request without his endorsement after ten at night. Thus, these reports were sent without the backing of the person who, until then, was in charge of managing the crisis in Madrid, the highest technical authority in this area. The Ministry of Health alleged that the reports do not need a signature: “No one has to sign it. It is a document with indicators, with boxes to fill in. And it is delivered by the Ministry ”.

Please, I hope you explain the reason for the resignation. And if the request to go to phase I responds to the defense of life or that of the markets, ”claimed the spokesperson for Health of United We Can, Vanessa Lillo. “We are very worried. But this concern has increased due to the resignation and because Ayuso has said that he has not spoken to her in days, “Vox representative Gádor Joya continued.

“Before, we had questions to ask him about hospitals, UCIS, etc., but now we have another one that buries the rest. We want to know why it has been decided to go to phase I, who has decided that, if following economic or health criteria, “insisted Mónica García, from Más Madrid. “The presence of experts is conspicuous by its absence,” recalled the socialist José Manuel Freile.

There are currently 337 people in intensive care and this is the data that the counselor has used to justify the request to move to the next phase. It is the capacity that Madrid had before the outbreak of the crisis.

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