The PSOE denounces that Betancort and his government deny providing communicators to people who cannot speak

The PSOE of Lanzarote has denounced that Oswaldo Betancort and the Cabildo's governing group voted against a socialist motion that demanded the Government of the Canary Islands and the Canarian Health Service urgently implement a specific circuit to facilitate access to dynamic communicators, eye readers, and other Augmentative and Alternative Communication Systems in the Lanzarote Health Area.

The Socialist Group's initiative was motivated by the fact that Lanzarote was the only Canary Island that did not have a specific circuit to prescribe communicators and sought to ensure that people who cannot communicate through oral speech or conventional writing can be assessed and, if applicable, access the devices they need to express pain, needs, emotions, decisions, preferences, or thoughts.

Socialist councilor Paula Corujo regretted that "Oswaldo Betancort has once again sided with the wrong, voting against a measure that is not about acronyms, but about rights, dignity, and humanity."

"We are talking about people with cerebral palsy, Rett syndrome, autism spectrum disorders with complex communication needs, intellectual disability, acquired brain injury, stroke, traumatic brain injury, ALS, advanced multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular diseases, rare diseases, or medical situations that temporarily or permanently prevent the use of voice. Voting against this motion is voting against the possibility for these people to communicate," Corujo said.

The PSOE reminds that these resources are part of the common portfolio of the National Health System since Order SCB/480/2019. "That is the reality that the governing group has tried to cover up. In Lanzarote, there is no clear circuit, families do not know which door to knock on, professionals do not have a defined protocol, and people who need these supports are still waiting," Paula Corujo denounced.

The socialist councilor accused CC and PP of "lying" to justify their vote against. "They take refuge in the fact that the procedure has already begun, but at the same time they acknowledge that there isn't even a protocol drawn up," she stated. For Paula Corujo, Oswaldo Betancort's vote against "can only be understood from political sectarianism." "They voted against simply because it was a socialist initiative. If the proposal had come signed by Coalición Canaria, today they would be selling it as a historic advance. But since the PSOE is proposing it, they prefer to leave Lanzarote without a response rather than admit we are right," she criticized.

The socialist councilor framed this rejection within "the generalized deterioration" of public healthcare in Lanzarote under the governments of Coalición Canaria and Partido Popular. "This is the worst government for healthcare in Lanzarote. We will not have the Playa Honda health center, we will not have the Argana health center, we will not have the promised expansion of the Tinajo clinic, and furthermore, they want to dismantle the public care model of the Insular Hospital," she stated.

The PSOE of Lanzarote insists that the Cabildo "should be defending families and demanding equal treatment for the island from the Government of Canarias," instead of "acting as a political shield for the Ministry of Health."