The Valencia Generalitat has refused to release up to date figures relating to the number of Coronavirus cases currently being dealt with in the Torrevieja region.
At the weekly meeting held on Wednesday by videoconference, between the Generalitat, the management of the Torrevieja health department, mayors and theircouncillors for health in the area, at which the autonomous administration and the concessionaire were due to report on the incidence of the coronavirus and the situation of human and material resources to face the epidemic, all of the councillors demanded that Ribera Salud and the Generalitat report transparently on the number of positive cases in the area.
Emilio Bascuñana, mayor of Orihuela and Eduardo Dolan, mayor of Torrevieja, demanded this information, as did the mayor of Pilar de la Horadada, José María Pérez.
The last approximate data for the infection was last Monday when the authority said that 70 patients were being treated, according to sources close to the hospital, and although that figure was unconfirmed figure it was not denied by the Generalitat or the Ribera Salud.
At the meeting, Ribera Salud (majority owned by the North American health insurer Centene) promised to pass the demand for transparency to the Generalitat, however the Generalitat, supposedly relies on preserving the confidentiality of patient data, together with their policy of not releasing information to the public.
Alberto de Rosa, CEO of Ribera Salud, said that the Ribera Salud group is in favour of releasing the data to the population “but we have to abide by the directive of the Ministry of Health that insists that the data is reported by provinces.” He said that for Ribera Salud , transparency is the basis of a modern society.
All that the authority would say is that the University Hospital currently has enough human and technical resources to handle the growth of cases.
What the Ribera Salud did add is that it is nevertheless looking to provide, if necessary, additional rooms in hotels that can accommodate patients with mild symptoms. They said that this would be an option that would allow more effective isolation for cases in which homes do not have the minimum conditions.
Eva Baro, the managing director of Ribera Salud said that “the possibility is being studied of having a medicalized hotel for people whose families or homes do not meet the necessary conditions for their care.”
The objective is that these cases, if they occur, is that they do not saturate the hospital facilities. The hotels that are being considered are Doña Monse, located a few hundred metres from the University Hospital in Los Balcones and the Torrejoven, also very close to the hospital in Punta Prima.
The Torrevieja health department currently provides support to 160,000 potential residents with a SIP card, in Torrevieja, Orihuela Costa, Pilar de la Horadada, Rojales, Guardamar del Segura, San Miguel de Salinas, Los Montesinos, Benijófar, Formentera and San Fulgencio. Thousands of relocated people from other autonomous communities must also be added to this number.
