The General Director of Child Protection of the Government of the Canary Islands, Iratxe Serrano, assures that the purchase of Viagra, charged to the accounts of a migrant minor center in Lanzarote, was made with a medical prescription.
Serrano asserts that she has in her possession the prescription issued by a worker of the Canarian Health Service (SCS) in 2020 for a 17-year-old ward of the La Santa minor center.
The purchase of Viagra was one of the payments questioned by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Javier Ródenas in his complaint against the former directors of the minor centers of Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and against the company that managed the services, Fundación Respuesta Social Siglo XXI.
According to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in the complaint filed against the former director of the La Santa migrant minor center, purchases were made in pharmacies charged to the centers of "products not suitable for minors."
Among them, two boxes of four tablets each of Sildenafilo Cinfa Efg 25 migramos were purchased, a medication to treat erectile dysfunction and which, according to the Prosecutor's Office, is "not recommended for children under 18 years of age."
"I have in my possession a prescription issued in 2020. That prescription exists and we understand that this doctor has prescribed that prescription," Serrano assures before the microphones of Radio Lanzarote-Onda Cero.
"I don't know what the reason is, I want to think that maybe it is a kid who has had to have a phimosis operation and that for a few weeks they have prescribed this medication to see if there was a response," she explains.
Distribution of powers
The General Directorate of Childhood of the Regional Executive is the legal guardian of minors and alleged minors in provisional declaration of helplessness.
During the period of more arrivals of minors in precarious boats to the islands, they process emergency contracts to provide shelter and care to children and young people.
During the migratory rebound of 2020 and 2021, it was necessary to award several management contracts for several centers through the emergency route. Among them, the coordination in La Santa and Yaiza was awarded to the Fundación Respuesta Social Siglo XXI.
"The basic needs were covered. That there is a chaotic moment in 2021, yes, but it was solved," Serrano defended about the problems in Gran Canaria.
"The technicians have been in charge of visiting all the centers and when improvement objectives have been detected, it has been transferred to solve it," she explains.
Regarding the Prosecutor's Office complaint that questions the lack of supervision in the contracts processed through the emergency route, Iratxe Serrano asserts that periodic visits have been made.
In addition, she highlights that the work carried out from her area is of "supervision", but that the "inspection" of the resources corresponds to another vice-counselor.
"I myself described at a certain moment that the (center) of Portobello in Gran Canaria looked like Beirut, then the technicians were sent," she adds.
In the case of Lanzarote, "the minors are protected by the Autonomous Community but the Cabildo assumes custody through a decree of 1997 or 1998." Or what is the same, "the resources of the island of Lanzarote are not of autonomous management", but the minors are their responsibility.
Regarding the control over expenses, Iratxe Serrano affirms that "the invoices issued by the Foundation at the end of the month are curiously never the same because they vary depending on the occupation." The migrant minor centers of Gran Canaria and Lanzarote charged per occupied place and night.
The lack of control of the contracts "makes sense due to the characteristics of the contract", Serrano reveals. The fact that the contract is through the emergency route is based on the fact that it depends on the number of arrivals of minors to need to open new centers or not.
Regarding the rest of the unjustified expenses exposed in the sentence, Serrano confesses: "I cannot argue that part"
