Marci Acuña, counselor of Social Welfare of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, intervened this Wednesday on the program Buenos días, Lanzarote of Radio Lanzarote - Onda Cero to respond to the accusations of the PSOE of Lanzarote of "mocking" the families of the residents of Amavir, which is why the socialists are asking for his resignation. Furthermore, the company has fired nine workers, which has further aggravated the pressure due to staff shortages.
The counselor began by saying that he has taken this request from the PSOE "with sportsmanship." "I believe that in the context we live in of different opinions and ways of managing public affairs, I have faced it with sportsmanship because these have not been pleasant situations in recent months," he said.
Furthermore, he accused the Socialist Party of creating alarm. "We are witnessing a PSOE that remains entrenched in noise, in fire, in alarm, and in not wanting to be part of the solution, but rather wanting to continue being part of the fire," he stated.
"It's as if in the face of a fire we can choose two paths: try to put it out and contribute to restoring normality, or start pouring gasoline on it. And for me, that is what the Socialist Party has done in these three months because the only thing it has done is contribute to that alarm, which I believe is unjust," he continued.
On the other hand, he accused the PSOE of not having reported the alleged mistreatment of the elderly in the Tías residence. "What the Socialist Party has not yet answered me is why, having knowledge of alleged mistreatment of the elderly, they did not report it, did not bring it to the attention of the technicians in the area, nor to the Civil Guard or the Prosecutor's Office, but instead went to hold a press conference to cause a scandal," he pointed out.
In this regard, Acuña defended himself by assuring that, after becoming aware of the problems occurring within Amavir, he took action. "In these months we have taken more than ten actions. We reported to the Civil Guard when we became aware of that mistreatment, we contacted the Government of the Canary Islands and requested the intervention of the inspection service, we communicated with the Prosecutor's Office so that they would be aware of the matter and that measures would be taken," he indicated.
Also "the company was asked for a shock plan, an action plan that has been carried out and that according to the technicians of the department has practically solved all the material and personnel deficiencies. The people involved in those alleged abuses were removed from service." Regarding the seizure of this service that the socialists were asking for, the minister said that "the procedures are not like that either and we have recognized the deficiencies and the crisis from minute one, but the Socialist Party is not satisfied with anything because they are entrenched in criticism and I don't think they even wanted to go and see the residence."
"I have invited them to go to the residence and talk to the technicians who have historically managed these services, but they have declined that outstretched hand of collaboration," he continued.
The file determines that "the deficiencies have been corrected"
During his speech, Minister Marci Acuña explained that the sanctioning file opened against the company Amavir, in charge of the center's management, has concluded that "the deficiencies detected in those inspections that were carried out have been objectively corrected."
When asked whether Amavir will be sanctioned or not for these incidents, Acuña detailed that it "will depend on what the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo of Lanzarote decide" because the situation "is in an administrative procedure that has a technical, not political, component." "If I have a file on my desk that is economically sanctioning or whatever it may be, I will not hesitate to execute it," he assured.
Likewise, the minister recalled again that during María Dolores Corujo's government in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, "there was already a devastating report, very similar to what happened in 2016," although he indicated that "I do not deny the deficiencies, but at that time any file was archived and I did not see it going to the prosecutor's office, as the Socialist Party is asking me to do now."
Precarious staff
Regarding the problem of finding qualified personnel and its solution, Acuña has responded that "we have an important problem which is the state agreement and if anyone has influence in the state, it is the Socialist Party and they should help us with that." In this regard, he has described this state dependency agreement as "precarious," which means that "we have precarious personnel because these companies are not going to pay above the agreement, they pay according to it."
"We have an agreement in which the salary paid to clinical assistants is not dignified. Assistants, who are the direct care for the elderly, are the critical space and we have to change that," he declared. The counselor has indicated that he has advocated for replacing this state agreement with an autonomous one that would be mandatory for companies.
On the other hand, the counselor recalled that in Lanzarote they have implemented a plan from Social Welfare to "facilitate training through other channels and for companies to be able to do dual training in which they can be working and training at the same time." "I prefer to have personnel who are being trained and will be accredited in a short time rather than having no personnel," he pointed out.
Acuña has announced that, during this crisis, Amavir has laid off nine people in direct care, which has aggravated this situation. "We have a problem because the care sector is precarious and we have to change that agreement so that companies can adopt improvements that, in justice, correspond to those people who work every day with excellent dedication," he concluded.
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