The deputy and candidate for the presidency of the Cabildo de Lanzarote for Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC), Yoné Caraballo, and the councilor for Health in the Haría City Council, Marcos Lemes, visited the local clinic in Mala this Wednesday to check the complaints they had previously received from neighbors, patients, and workers of the health center.
During the visit, both representatives were able to verify that the taps in the clinic remain closed and that water jugs are being used as an alternative, even in spaces such as restrooms and medical and nursing consultations.
According to the information provided to the NC-BC representatives, analyses of the facility's water would have been carried out in which elevated levels of vinyl chloride would have been detected, a chemical compound that is subject to specific control in water intended for human consumption.
For NC-BC, the situation "is especially worrying because it is a health center where medical, nursing, and rehabilitation assistance is provided, where having water in adequate conditions is essential to guarantee basic issues such as hand hygiene for professionals during care techniques, patient cleaning and care, or the hygienic-sanitary conditions of the facilities themselves".
Councilor Marcos Lemes points out that "what particularly worries us is that an incident of these characteristics has been affecting the clinic for months and that, upon checking with the Mayor's Office, they informed us that they had no knowledge of the situation since its beginning".
Furthermore, he adds that "we are concerned about the information that the workers themselves have conveyed to us, according to which the Preventive Medicine service would not have been aware of the incident until now, at which point tests and examinations would be requested from the professionals working at the center".
For his part, Yoné Caraballo has announced that he will request from today onwards "all reports, analyses, communications, and actions carried out by the different responsible administrations and bodies in relation to this incident".
“We want to know since when this situation has been known, what results the analyses carried out have exactly yielded, what measures have been adopted, what communication has existed between the Canary Islands Health Service, the City Council and the health center itself, and what actions are being taken to definitively solve the problem,” says Caraballo.
The deputy considers that “this lack of transparency and communication between administrations cannot exist when we are talking about a health center and a possible incident related to water quality.”
During the visit, Caraballo and Lemes were also able to verify that work has begun on conditioning the pipes outside the building, actions that, as they explain, could be related to the solution of the incident.
However, NC-BC considers it necessary that, while the works are being carried out, "more adequate provisional measures be adopted to guarantee dignified and safe operating conditions for professionals and users."
They also demand that the necessary actions to solve the incident be accelerated, that the safety of patients and workers be guaranteed, and that all available information be provided to municipal officials, professionals, and citizens.
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