A delegation from the Ministry of Health, led by the Secretary of State for Health and president of the National Institute of Health Management, Javier Padilla, will visit Ceuta next week to assess the impact of the migration crisis on the University Hospital and Primary Care services of the autonomous city. The exact date of the visit has not yet been finalized.
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Additionally, the Ministry of Health (which holds health authority over the autonomous city) has called an extraordinary meeting of the Public Health Commission for next Monday to address the supply of vaccines in Ceuta. The idea is to activate the solidarity mechanism so that other communities send their units to the city. Among the requested vaccines are the MMR and others aimed at preventing diseases such as chickenpox, poliomyelitis, tetanus, or diphtheria.
The call, which was first reported by El Mundo and confirmed by this newspaper, comes after the arrival in the autonomous city of thousands of people from Morocco. The health situation in the autonomous city has been in the news these days. The Ceuta Nursing Association has reported the appearance of diseases that usually occur in overcrowded situations: more than 200 cases of acute gastroenteritis, 20 of scabies, 21 of impetigo, and four of tuberculosis. This does not include cases from settlements on the beaches, where monitoring “is more complex.”
The Public Health Commission meeting has been convened by Pedro Gullón Tosio, Director General of Public Health and Health Equity. According to the message sent to attendees, the meeting will be held virtually at 12:00 hours. In the communication, the director general justifies the urgent call due to the need to address the issue “as soon as possible” following contacts between the authorities of Ceuta, the Ministry, and the Vaccine Panel.
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The Spanish Society of Epidemiology has made a call not to stigmatize immigrants. “Thinking that they bring diseases is medically wrong and, moreover, dangerous,” said its president, Maria João Forjaz, in statements to EFE.
“In these 15 days, about 5,800 immigrants have been attended to, 3,500 in primary care and 2,300 in the hospital,” confirmed Mónica García on August 16, when she traveled to Ceuta. She said then that hospital occupancy was around 50% and that “we cannot talk about collapse, although there are places especially strained.” The minister will appear on Thursday in Congress in an extraordinary session to explain her management.
The Ceuta crisis has opened a credibility gap for the Government. All the Executive’s efforts are now focused on trying to find a solution to a situation that is far from resolved and on trying to return to normality. In addition to addressing the emergency, the Executive is preparing an economic plan to revitalize the city and has asked all ministries with direct competencies to send ideas and requests.
