The residence had a firm judicial order for closure since November

The Government of the Canary Islands takes the images of "Diario de" to the Prosecutor's Office, in case the facts it denounces "constitute a crime"

The Minister of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands, Inés Rojas, has announced that the regional Executive has already placed the images broadcast on Monday night by the program "Diario ...

January 10 2012 (17:40 WET)
The Government of the Canary Islands takes the images of "Diario de" to the Prosecutor's Office, in case the events it denounces "constitute a crime"
The Government of the Canary Islands takes the images of "Diario de" to the Prosecutor's Office, in case the events it denounces "constitute a crime"

The Minister of Social Welfare of the Government of the Canary Islands, Inés Rojas, has announced that the regional Executive has already placed the images broadcast on Monday night by the program "Diario de" in the hands of the Prosecutor's Office, denouncing the situation of a residence in Lanzarote and the alleged mistreatment of the elderly, so that Justice can determine whether or not crimes were committed in the center.

"We are going to check how far the veracity of these facts goes. If they are true, we need to be more aware of how these things can happen," said the Minister.

Rojas appeared before the media at 3:30 p.m. this Tuesday, after the broadcast of the Cuatro report, in response to "the significant alarm" generated by the images. In fact, the Minister has suspended a press conference scheduled in Gran Canaria, in order to travel to Lanzarote and respond to the controversy. In addition, her appearance coincided with the announcement by the Tías City Council, which this noon issued the order to seal the center. As the program "Diario de" denounced, the facility does not have a license.

Inés Rojas has even made public that the residence already had a firm judicial order for closure due to the lack of a license to operate as a residence for the elderly. According to Rojas, the Government of the Canary Islands detected in 2007 that the center did not have a license from the Executive and ordered its closure. An order that was appealed from the senior center.

In 2009, a ruling sided with the Government of the Canary Islands and ordered the closure of the nursing home, but its director appealed again. In November 2011, another ruling, in this case final, sided with the Government of the Canary Islands again and again decreed the judicial closure, although until this Tuesday the residence remained open. "We hope it will close voluntarily and if not, I will be forced to resort to legal channels," said Rojas, unaware that the Tías City Council had already ordered the sealing of the center.

The Minister of Social Welfare has also stated that she does not know in detail the reason why the residence does not have a license. "I don't have the details, but in general, in these cases, it is usually because they do not comply with required measures, for example in the bathrooms or something like that. Whether the bathroom has a certain size or not does not interfere with the quality, but there are rules to comply with. Before, we had a Canarian regulation, but then it was passed to the Dependency Law and the rules must be complied with," said Rojas, who added that this usually happens in centers that have not been created for this purpose, but adapted. "We give them deadlines to process the license, as long as it does not interfere with the quality of care."

In this sense, the Minister pointed out that there are many infrastructures of this type that are closed in the Canary Islands and that in the previous legislature this figure may have reached between 12 or 15 centers. "Many are closed and normally they are not newsworthy. This probably wouldn't have been either if it weren't for these images, in which something else now appears, images that seemed to us that the first thing we had to do was put them in the hands of the Prosecutor's Office," she said. .

No previous complaints

Even so, Rojas insisted that there are no previous complaints against this residence, "neither from family members nor from workers" regarding mistreatment. "In all the files, from 2004-2005 onwards, I have not seen any anomaly", added the Minister, who has called on citizens to report this type of case. "We ensure the well-being of the elderly, but everyone should do it. If there are suspicions, report them."

RELATED NEWS

[The Tías City Council decrees the sealing of the Sol de Otoño nursing home, after verifying that it lacks a license ->64162]

[A dozen family members come to the defense of the residence and state that "the images of 'Diario de' are a manipulation"->64159]

[Two elderly people have already left the Sol de Otoño residence: "We were left trembling. I don't understand why they treat them like animals"->64156]

[The Cabildo does not know if the Sol de Otoño residence is illegal and calls for "caution" until the facts are investigated->64150]

[The mayor of Tías orders a report on the Sol de Otoño residence to the Local Police, after the complaint from "Diario de"->64149]

[The program "Diario D" denounces the "inhuman" treatment in an "illegal" residence in Lanzarote, where an elderly man died->64148]

[See the video broadcast on the program "Diario de", on the Cuatro channel->http://www.mitele.es/programas-tv/diario-de/temporada-1/programa-100/]

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