If the Ministry of Social Policies did not intervene in the nursing homes in Madrid until the end of March, when at least 1,065 elderly people had already died, it was because it could not do so . This is how the Madrid vice president, Ignacio Aguado, defended this Monday the counselor Alberto Reyero, also from Ciudadanos, after EL MUNDO published a whatsapp from his chief of staff, Carlos Reus, in which he recognized that until March 26 it was not decided "Start acting within" the nursing homes .

The exclusivity of this newspaper caused a real tsunami in Madrid politics because until now the councilor Reyero had always held his colleague Enrique Ruiz Escudero, head of Health, responsible for not medicalizing the residences and for vetoing the referral of the elderly affected by the Covid-19 to hospitals. "It is not ethical and possibly not legal," the Citizen counselor went on to say.

The whatsapp that Reyero's chief of staff sent to the spokespersons for social affairs of the groups with representation in the Madrid Assembly and that this Monday revealed EL MUNDO demonstrates three things: that the Reyero council did not know the real situation of Madrid residences and the number of deceased elderly people, who were committed to relocating the elderly to "clean points" without mentioning the referral of those affected to hospitals and who began to "intervene urgently" in nursing homes on March 26.

Aguado, who appreciates "bad faith" in the "leak" of Reus's message, who resigned from office last week, endorsed Reyero's management and justified that he did not intervene earlier in the residences because a single command was needed with the Ministry of Health, which "was what the Social Policy counselor himself had been demanding for weeks."

"Whoever says nothing was done lies"

"The residences are not designed to heal, they are designed to care, which is why Reyero insisted over and over again on the need to constitute the sole command," added Aguado. The Madrid vice president also stressed that "lies" whoever says that "nothing was done" in the residences and that this reveals "absolute disinformation", because they were the first to close the senior centers on March 6, they limited themselves visits on the 8th of the same month and on the 10th restricted income.

"To say that nothing has been done is absolutely unfair with the Ministry of Social Policies, because we were the first to ask for help from the Army and the Government of Spain," said Aguado, referring to the letter that Reyero sent to the Second Vice President and Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Iglesias, requesting the provision of doctors and patients from the Military Emergency Unit. The letter was sent to Moncloa and disseminated via Twitter by Ciudadanos after the president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had expressly and publicly ruled out such an option: "This request is useless because the Army does not have the capacity to send medical personnel."

In the WhatsApp known this Monday, Reyero's chief of staff admits that he is unaware of the actual number of deaths in the residences, which unofficially stood at 1,065 elderly. "I am sending you the data to which we had committed. These are figures that began to be counted by the residences at the beginning of the crisis and are not definitive data, that is, they respond to inspection calls by the Ministry", Reus writes.

This recognition is important because it is one of the reasons on which Díaz Ayuso based his decision to withdraw Reyero control of the residences. The Ministry of Social Policies was inspecting the residences by telephone, without visiting them, a relevant fact because the relatives of the residents reported to the media that some nursing homes were hiding the actual number of deaths at their facilities.

"Act from within"

In the communication, Reus admits that they are unaware of the real situation of the residences: "We have signed, together with the Minister of Health, an Order that allows us to intervene in all residences (...). We are going to intervene in a more immediate way those that present a more critical situation, and we will gradually enter the rest. This will allow us ... to have a more precise knowledge of the situation. " And he adds: "And start acting from within."

Shortly after Reus sent that message, it transpired that the President of Madrid removed Reyero from the control of nursing homes to appoint the Minister of Health, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, responsible for them. Ruiz Escudero launched a crash plan in the residences that allowed to intervene in a few hours at 25 that presented a more critical situation.

The Madrid Assembly will set up next Monday the commission of inquiry into what happened in the nursing homes.

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  • Citizens
  • Pablo Iglesias
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  • Isabel Díaz Ayuso
  • Ignacio Aguado
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