The councillor of Social Policies of the Community of Madrid, Alberto Reyero, said in a letter to the human rights NGO Amnesty International that he was not getting the support of the ministry of Health of his Government to save lives in the residence halls during the pandemic. Reyero stated in the notice of 12 April that he was “doing the impossible by getting the involvement of the concierge” by Enrique Ruiz Escudero, a further demonstration of the lack of understanding within government of madrid in the middle of a crisis that has led to the death of nearly 6,000 people in residential homes.
Amnesty International confirmed to this newspaper the existence of this letter, disclosed by a third party who had knowledge of it. It is a response of Reyero to a requirement that the british NGO made to the autonomous communities the April 10 to learn details of its management of the pandemic in the residences.
Reyero explained that the residences are not health centers and therefore that it was essential for the support of the health authorities, and added that this cooperation itself was taking place in two autonomous communities with coalition governments, Andalusia and Valencia, according to details of the text paraphrased by the responsible of institutional relations of Amnesty, Veronica Barroso. Reyero also revealed that since the start of the pandemic had sought without success the involvement of the Squire, and added that without that support it would be impossible to the full success of their efforts.
Correspondence with Amnesty International dates from the deadliest month in the homes of Madrid, between half march and half April, when the hospitals refused transfers to many residents following Community guidelines. The president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso and your counselor Escudero argued that the residences were medicalized, but Reyero has criticized that the assistance was not enough, encouraging multiple industry sources who claim that these homes were abandoned to their fate.
Amnesty also sent the information request to a Squire but got no response, according to the NGO. Yes answered in a generic manner and brief the chief of cabinet of the president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, Miguel Angel Rodriguez. “It was a inadequate response that is not entered into detail on the requirements that we ask of them”, says the spokesperson of the NGO. “Amnesty would love to have a conversation more fluent with the Community of Madrid”, adds Barroso.
“We value very positively the steps that have been tried to encourage the ministry of Social Policy, but equally necessary is that the impulse of the ministry of Health and coordination”.
The Community response to the deaths in residences is under review, political and legal, especially after Reyero report two weeks ago that his Government refused assistance to seniors living in these households. The Citizen advisory warned Squire, the Popular Party of “serious legal consequences” and older dying in dire conditions, according to two e-mails from the march 22, seen by this newspaper. According to Reyero, your partner, Squire did not answer these private requests for assistance or to other later, on the 31st of march and 11th of April.
The scrutiny over the deaths in residences has stressed the coexistence of the two parties of the Government in madrid. The president Ayuso has avoided being harsh with Reyero, who at least in public, has the backing of the vice-president Ignacio Aguado, also of Citizens. But according to sources familiar, Ayuso want to try a return to peace, ceasing to Squire, and to Reyero in a time of low activity briefing during the summer, a few plans developed by The Confidential.
No response
Amnesty International received a reply from other autonomous communities and the professional associations of doctors and nurses in the application of April on the contamination of caregivers and health. Amnesty International has not investigated deaths in nursing homes in Spain but it has been chosen as one of its themes the protection of workers in these centers because the quality of the care you deliver can mean the difference between life and death.
It is a communication by letters is very frequent in the activity of Amnesty International, an organization that builds its success on its ability to influence the authorities. According to the NGO, the majority of ministries, regional governments and municipalities have collaborated with this and other requests during the pandemic, or have given at least an acknowledgement of receipt, promising to send the information at a later time. But the collaboration of the Community of Madrid has been almost non-existent, except with the department of Reyero.
In your writing, Reyero lists a series of measures taken by the department, such as inspections of your equipment to residences, staff visits to some schools with a high number of deaths or the launching of a bag of employment to recruit caregivers and to meet the low of staff.
Amnesty International says that at times the authorities are reluctant to collaborate with their efforts to collect data because the topic or the political context. “We understand that you have Health departments very congested, and in fact some regional government has given us acknowledgement of receipt and has told us that later we would answer but with the ministry of Health in madrid, we have had no dialogue at all during this crisis,” said Barroso.
Ayuso says that the only culprit is the virus
The president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, returned to defend this Monday that his Government did everything possible to avoid the devastation a deadly virus in the residences. During an interview with Telecinco, Ayuso said that it was impossible to stop the advance of the virus because when they jumped the alarms it was already late.
“The only way is to act in the same way a month before, with time,” he said in the interview according to the transcript of the EFE agency. “We have fought for every life in the residences, we have put at the disposal of the citizens absolutely everything that we had,” added Ayuso.
However employers, unions and families report that the Community left abandoned to the residences. On the one hand, a protocol was left out of hospital care to older residences, and on the other the plan to be taken care of in the nursing homes during the days of chaos has been criticized as a nonsense.
The president has avoided being tough with the accusations of Reyero, preferring to divert the attacks toward the central Government. In his interview with Telecinco, responded to vice-president Paul Churches that “if something is criminal are his words.” In the interview with Telecinco charge against the Government of Sanchez for throwing “gasoline” on the Community of Madrid.
“I don’t have them accused of deaths, murders, geriatricidio, like me are doing to me, call me sepulturera, murderous”.
Do you know of cases of discrimination or irregularities in a residence of the Community of Madrid? Contact with the reporters of the section of Madrid [email protected] or [email protected] or send them a message on Twitter to @FernandoPeinado or @jdquesada
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