On December 31, 2019, China reported the first 27 cases of pneumonia of unknown origin. Seven days later, the country’s health authorities identified the cause of the outbreak: a new type of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. The rest is history. The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic has had important economic consequences on the Spanish health system. The average per autonomous community (CCAA) of per capita health expenditure in 2019 amounted to 1,569 euros, while in 2020 it was 1,707 euros.
This means that the pandemic has cost each Spaniard 138 euros on average to purchase medical supplies and personal protective equipment, as detailed in the public health expenditure (EGSP) statistics prepared by the Ministry of Health in 2020. Yes expenditure data per capita healthcare in the various Autonomous Communities is broken down, it is observed that Catalonia (245 euros), Castilla y León (202 euros), Castilla-La Mancha (197 euros) and Cantabria (177 euros) were the autonomies that most affected it heightened in the year of the outbreak of the pandemic. On the other side of the coin, among the territories with the lowest spending, there are La Rioja (69 euros), the Basque Country (75 euros), Aragon (88 euros) and Extremadura (94 euros).
Total healthcare expenditure in 2020 was 83,811 million euros, an increase of 10.9% compared to 2019 (75,056 million). All sectors recorded an increase with the exception of social security (1,633 compared to 1,714 in 2019). The most important impact of the expenditure occurred in the Central Administration, becoming 185.8% more. The Local Corporations follow in importance, with 13.3%, and the Autonomous Communities, with 10.8% respectively. Almost all of the expenditure was allocated to the Autonomous Communities sector, responsible for 92.2% of the total item.
At the time, the main scenario that the Ministry of Health was considering was to equip the health system with greater capacity to cope with the pandemic. “It is necessary to equip the National Health System with greater capacities, preparing it to be able to face any increases in transmission of Covid-19 without the tensions it was subjected to during the crisis. This preparation requires a global and coordinated action, which includes preparation in the areas of Public Health, health and laboratory, the extraordinary purchase of the flu vaccine and the preparation of pharmacological and non-pharmacological measures against Covid-19 “, he detailed the Early Response Plan of the Covid Control Scenario, drawn up by the Ministry of Health in July 2020.
In the early stages of the global health emergency, all countries of the world competed to provide their citizens with medical supplies. This situation led the Ministry of Health, then commanded by Salvador Illa, to take the decision to sign a contract worth 2,500 million for the centralized purchase of medical supplies.
The Ministry of Health has announced the purchase of 4,200 million units of surgical gowns, gloves, protective goggles, surgical masks, FPP2 and FPP3 protective masks, PCR diagnostic tests and extraction kits. The reality, however, is that of the plan, in force until the present year 2022, of what was budgeted only 9.7 million have been allocated.
