The candidate of Dragos Verdes Canarias to the Parliament of the Canary Islands for Lanzarote, Rafa Jiménez, has stated that "the people of Lanzarote are being mistreated by the Government of the Canary Islands" in health matters. In this sense, he pointed out that "the delays in the radiotherapy bunker and in the hemodynamics unit of the island are a disgrace.”
"The well-known model of other territories of the State is being copied, where public money is injected with cost overruns into private healthcare, instead of expanding resources in the Public sector," the party denounced in a statement. To which he added that "they are dismantling Public Health."
Rafa Jiménez has described the management of the Government of the Canary Islands in health matters on the island as "mistreatment of the people of Lanzarote." In the opinion of the candidate, the island is "discriminated" and this is reflected in issues such as delays in the radiotherapy bunker, or in the hemodynamics unit.
“What is a simple matter in Tenerife or Gran Canaria, in Lanzarote costs us blood, sweat and tears. To have a radiotherapy bunker, and a hemodynamics unit on the island, we have had to take to the streets several times in this last decade, and when after fighting so hard we managed to lay the first stone, they continue to despise our urgency with delays and more delays. It seems they don't realize that the lives of many people depend on this.”
Rafa Jiménez also emphasizes discrimination, pointing out that the scheduling of the Argana Alta Health Center for 2025 is "a disgrace", and considers that the PSOE through its Island Director of Health, Noelia Umpiérrez, "is acting against the interests of the island." From Drago Verdes Canarias they recall that the Argana Health Center has been a request from the most populated neighborhood of the capital for a decade.
“Noelia Umpiérrez and her party, the PSOE, are responsible for the health situation that Lanzarote has experienced in this last legislature. Her few interventions have been to confirm the lack of commitment to the people of Lanzarote, and from Drago Verdes Canarias we find especially blatant what they are doing with the population of Argana and its Health Center. They are yielding to other interests. It is an unacceptable discrimination”
“The Pact of the Flowers, which we remember does not only include the PSOE in decision-making, has shot up billing in Private Healthcare: in 2021 9% more, and 25% in operations derived from the Canarian Health Service”, insists Rafa Jiménez.
The candidate of Drago Verdes Canarias warns: “The well-known model of other territories of the State is being copied, where public money is injected with cost overruns into private healthcare, instead of expanding resources in the Public sector. They are dismantling it,” he insists.
Masks Case
He also highlighted that "the four million euros of the Masks Case are the confirmation of a disastrous management" and recalls that "during the pandemic one of the most important cases of corruption in health matters took place, having allegedly defrauded four million euros from public coffers.”
According to Drago Verdes Canarias, "the outbreak of the Masks Case has exposed them: "they kept the Manager of the Canarian Health Service until a year after the start of the case, they did not bring the alleged perpetrators of the scam to justice and they refused an Investigation Commission on the matter. They don't care about public money, nor the patients of the Canarian Health Service, and much less those of Lanzarote.”
To conclude, Rafa Jiménez points out that the waiting lists in Lanzarote are "overwhelmed", and recalls that there are waits of "up to two years" for specialist doctors, and that surgical waiting lists have increased by 5% throughout the Canary Islands: “This cannot continue like this, the people of Lanzarote deserve a dignified, public Health Service that does not put our health at risk.”