DIRECT.Last minute on coronavirus
Almost a year after taking the reins of the Ministry of Health,
Salvador Illa
acknowledges that
mistakes
have been made
by everyone and, despite the complicated moments that this "terrible" pandemic has also brought him, he would once again accept the order .
"I don't regret it,
" he says.
"I have done the best I could," he acknowledges in an interview with Efe in which he takes stock of these almost twelve months of
pandemic
and comments on the projects he has planned for the department he has directed since last January 13, just the
Covid-19
nightmare
"leave room".
In what he is not going to "lose a minute" is in battling with any autonomous community, even if there is one that tries.
"My belligerence is focused solely against the virus. The rest, not a minute," ditch.
"EVERYONE ARRIVED LATE, ALSO SPAIN"
Illa believes that the
coronavirus
"surprised everyone", and that forced them to adopt measures based on the information that was being received, provisions that at that time were believed to be "correct and adequate";
now reviewing decisions that were made in the first wave with current data - he believes - "is not very honest.
"I have to admit that everyone was late, also Spain"
, admits the minister to point out, however, that even "going late and making mistakes, we were also the first to react", decreeing the first state of alarm and confinement of the population just two days after the WHO declared the
pandemic
.
Illa
considers it "mandatory" to make an independent evaluation, "of course, of the actions of the Ministry, the Government, the communities and the health systems," but it must be "constructive" and carried out by experts from different disciplines.
To this end, a working group was set up in the
Interterritorial Council of the National Health System
, focused on developing the framework in which this evaluation will take place, which it wants "as soon as possible."
"There are those who have been interested from day one, more than in fighting the virus, in fighting the Government; there they are. We want to make a constructive, serene and slow evaluation that gives us guidelines for action for the future," he adds.
YOUR MOST DIFFICULT MOMENTS
Illa recalls two of the most difficult moments she has faced: the first, she says without hesitation, is the peak at the end of March and the beginning of April,
when the daily deaths were counted by the hundreds to almost a thousand
.
Another "not easy" moment was
restricting attendance at funerals
: "If it is already very painful to lose a loved one, not being able to say goodbye to him, not being able to accompany him, multiplies that pain," he laments.
And, internally, on the day of May in which the then Secretary General of Health,
Faustino Blanco
, who from the first day asked him to be relieved, had to be treated in the emergency room for a heart problem "due to the pressure suffered by all this months".
"I was asking him to continue, so when this happened, I felt a little responsible."
Fortunately, remember, "everything went well."
THE EXEMPLARITY OF THE CITIZENSHIP AND THE SANITARY
Despite all the troubles, this year the minister remains with the behavior of the public, which "has been exemplary", as has also been the response of health professionals.
The
pandemic
has brought out "the best of ourselves, and sometimes also the worst. We all have images in our retina of
examples of solidarity
", such as the automotive sector devoted to the manufacture of respirators or the textile manufacturing masks.
"There have been things that give goose bumps, because there have been very spontaneous reactions at a very harsh moment, in which everyone has understood that it was necessary to rediscover that community dimension and that we do not live in isolation," he concludes.
Illa
received "as an honor" the offer of the President of the Government,
Pedro Sánchez
, to replace
María Luisa Carcedo
in Health, a position that he would assume again even knowing the one that was to come just a few days after being appointed.
"I do not regret having accepted the president's offer; I felt it at that time as an honor and
I have done things the best I could
. Of course, if we had known that this was going to happen, the approaches would have been very different, but I do not regret having accepted the position and for me it is an honor, "he reiterates.
FERNANDO SIMÓN, A TIRELESS AND VERY HONEST WORKER
The director of the Center for the Coordination of Health Alerts and Emergencies,
Fernando Simón
, has
never
asked him to throw in the towel despite the criticism, and he emphasizes that "from minute zero" he has performed his tasks
"in a very exemplary way"
and making decisions that "are very difficult to make."
"He is a tireless and very honest worker," emphasizes the minister, who recalls that it was not he who appointed him and that everyone knows who did it.
For
Illa
,
Simón
"and
the Fernando Simóns
that exist in our country in the field of public health and in many other areas are exemplary and vocational public servants," and he considers that the requests to remove him from office "have been a minority and not very representative. "
THE THIRD WAVE
After the first and then
a second
, the third wave began to emerge a few days ago with
a progressive increase in incidence
, after the communities relaxed the measures at the beginning of December, although he is convinced that all have acted "quickly" and the results will be seen soon.
However, he emphasizes the importance of minimizing mobility and social contacts during these
Christmas holidays
.
"We do not get tired of repeating that Christmas, at home; we do not move and we are with the closest family", abounds before evaluating the work of the autonomies to stop the increase in cases, since they are acting "correctly".
He believes that
Spain
is prepared to face "what has to come", but, he points out, what must be done above all, and where "you have to put the accent and effort", is to prevent infections from increasing considerably.
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH MADRID "IS GOOD"
The minister assures that the relationship with the
Community of Madrid
, which from almost the beginning has been one of the most combative with the decisions of the Ministry, "is good."
"In any case," he warns, he will not "waste a minute in belligerence with any autonomous community."
Regarding the request made by the Executive of
Isabel Díaz Ayuso
, to do rapid antigen tests in pharmacies, Illa reiterates that "these things have to be done well."
"It can be studied, of course it can", and in fact the Ministry is analyzing the Madrid proposal, but still "there are a whole series of details that have been clarified and we are going to see how we can solve them."
Even so, he insists that "things safely, calmly and without rushing".
PANDEMIC FATIGUE
To try to mitigate the effects of pandemic fatigue
in health personnel
and the rest of the public, remember that "we already have a horizon", which are vaccines, which will begin to be administered in Spain next Sunday.
"It is a horizon of five or six months"
, encourages the minister, who considers it the beginning of the end, when there is already a sufficient immunized population to be able to begin to relax measures "in an important way".
Based on the information available to him on the new strains of the coronavirus detected in the
United Kingdom
and
South Africa
, it does not appear that they invalidate the vaccine or that there is "incontestable evidence" that they are much more lethal or that they are more transmissible.
At the moment, there is no evidence that there are cases in Spain with these variants, but Health has commissioned this week the Carlos III Health Institute and the General Directorate of Public Health to update the strain sequencing program "to be vigilant."
EUTHANASIA, PRIMARY CARE and TOBACCO
The
primary care
is still one of the healthcare services most affected by the
pandemic
, so that budgets contemplate billion euros for reinforcement, and intend to Illa is also stick with the plan approved during the administration of his predecessor in office,
María Luisa Carcedo
.
"It is a strategic framework agreed with the communities and those involved, very operational, with a series of objectives and challenges and milestones; it seems to me that it is the starting point to invest this money, take this strategic framework," he asserts.
In fact, Carcedo has been the rapporteur for the recently approved euthanasia law in Congress, with which
Illa
felt that the "outcry" that existed in Spanish society was being answered.
"It is not forcing anyone to do anything, it is giving a right"
to those people who suffer a "chronic incurable disease or have an unbearable and chronic suffering to be able, if they consider it and with the due guarantees of public health, put an end to this unshakable suffering that they have. "
After this milestone, another of
Health's
challenges
is to toughen the anti-smoking law as soon as possible, since around 68,000 deaths a year are associated with this substance.
"We are going to do it as soon as possible to the extent that the covid leaves us space, which will leave us very soon, I hope," he concludes.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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