A story full of miseries

We know that there are thousands of unemployed people on the island, people who have lost their homes, stories of need and even misery. Families who previously had a job and a comfortable life and now have to go to a ...

February 11 2011 (16:42 WET)

We know that there are thousands of unemployed people on the island, people who have lost their homes, stories of need and even misery. Families who previously had a job and a comfortable life and now have to go to a ...

We know that there are thousands of unemployed people on the island, people who have lost their homes, stories of need and even misery. Families who previously had a job and a comfortable life and now have to go to a soup kitchen to get a plate of food. And unfortunately, we also know that in the meantime, public institutions and politicians are doing other things. To their propaganda photos, to their hide-and-seek game when there are problems, to their internal battles, to their party changes? However, we cannot get used to or become immune to the dramas of others.

Stories like the one that La Voz de Lanzarote had to publish this week should make the whole society's hair stand on end and embarrass the administrations. That a man has been living in a garage for five years, without even a bathroom, doing his business in a bucket and living with cockroaches and lack of hygiene, would already be drama enough. However, the most chilling thing about this story is that, to all that, we must add a terrible disease. At least for four months, he has had a huge lump on his neck. A chilling tumor that cannot be hidden, but that until now had not served to give him due attention.

The Health Department's response focuses on listing a handful of medical appointments that he has been given in the last year, some of which he did not attend, and stating that he was referred twice to the Doctor Negrín Hospital in Gran Canaria to receive radiotherapy, paying for his plane ticket. In short, unfortunately, we should not get used to patients having to leave the island to receive treatments that are as harsh as they are common.

In the case of Carlos, the director of the Lanzarote Health area even spoke of "negligence" on the part of the patient. He even stated that his request to be admitted to Gran Canaria cannot be attended to, because hospitals are not social services. And he is right. Indeed, you cannot go to the hospital looking for a bed because you have lost your home and are living in subhuman conditions. But of course, you could not send a person "home" (in this case to a filthy garage), with a tumor on his neck the size of a tennis ball (and that's only what is seen externally) and with very strong pain.

The time when doctors knew all the neighbors of the town is undoubtedly very far away, but health care cannot have become so dehumanized that a doctor is not able to detect a situation of social emergency, mixed with a serious health problem. And if our health system cannot offer admission while the studies are carried out, the treatment is applied or attempts are made to calm the pain and symptoms, at least it should have given an immediate report to the Social Services to prevent a person with that health problem from returning to live alone in those unsanitary conditions.

However, from the Arrecife City Council they assure that they did not even know the story, until it was published by lavozdelanzarote.com. That same afternoon, a social worker visited Carlos and they have already started the procedures to, at least, admit him to the palliative care unit of the Insular Hospital. Without a doubt, if the commitment is fulfilled, it is a good and quick reaction, but that does not avoid asking how they could not know Carlos' case. Asking how many more Carlos there will be in Arrecife, or in Lanzarote. Asking how administrations, politicians and officials can be so far from the street, and how society can be so alien to the problems of others.

In this case, fortunately, there is someone who has not looked the other way. Two months ago, a neighbor took the trouble to bring this issue to the attention of the director of the Health area, and now he has come to La Voz de Lanzarote, seeking help. He could not remain indifferent to a neighbor who ekes out a living in a tiny, dark and dirty garage, while facing a cancer that he is not even fully aware he has. Thanks to Arturo, Carlos is no longer alone in this.

If politicians are not really hurt by the dramas of their city, their island or their country, society cannot follow the same path and, at least, should get involved to find solutions and embarrass their public representatives.

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