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The Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Puerto de la Cruz (Santa Cruz de Tenerife) has admitted for processing the complaint filed by the Prosecutor's Office for an alleged case of mistreatment detected against the elderly in the private residence Hogar Santa Rita, located in the aforementioned municipality of Tenerife.
There, 27 people died during an outbreak of coronavirus detected between the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021.
Official sources from the communication service of the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands reported this Thursday that Judge Iñigo Herrero Elejalde, who is now instructing the case, admitted the Prosecutor's complaint on November 17, 2021.
At the moment, investigative procedures are being carried out to try to clarify the facts denounced.
These sources added that the judge does not rule out that those responsible for the center could have committed a crime of reckless homicide, although the current investigation is based on the alleged commission of a crime of mistreatment.
"It is expected that a statement will be taken from the head of the center [Tomás Villar, its director] in the coming weeks," explained the press office of the TSJ of the Canary Islands, adding that the date of the appearance in court is not a fact. public.
The alleged irregularities were detected after the Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria (HUNSC) assumed management of the center in January 2021, after an outbreak of coronavirus affected more than two hundred users of the largest residence in the Canary Islands.
It has 710 beds and almost fifty employees work there.
The General Directorate of Public Health of the Canarian Government managed to control the coronavirus outbreak a month later, after having detected cases of scabies, lack of control with meals and problems of malnutrition and dehydration in some of the residents.
Fundación Hogar Santa Rita II currently houses around 600 residents.
It has public and concerted squares, but its management, private, was in the hands of the aforementioned religious institution.
During the health inspection, cases of severe dehydration and malnutrition were detected, so the facts were brought to the attention of the Prosecutor's Office, which has finally initiated proceedings and filed a complaint with the judge.
"The investigation begins as a result of various information from relatives that had appeared in the press and that the superior prosecutor sends us," María Farnés Martínez, chief prosecutor of the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, explained yesterday to EL MUNDO.
"As a consequence of this, civil, not criminal, investigation proceedings are initiated, requesting information from the General Directorate of Public Health, the Minister of Social Rights, Equality and Diversity [Noemí Santana], as well as the Labor Inspection Service. Once all of this was received, criminal investigation proceedings were initiated," the prosecutor clarifies.
After receiving the report from the HUNSC, the Section for Inspection and Registration of Centers presented a request, with a warning of sanction, to those responsible for the Hogar Santa Rita.
He demanded three urgent measures from them: a report on the measures taken by the center's management to resolve the absence of a nutrition specialist;
another on the outbreak of scabies and the measures adopted for its control, and the reduction of fasting time between dinner and breakfast for residents.
The aforementioned residence receives around 6.5 million euros annually through the places arranged by the Institute of Social and Socio-Health Care (IASS), which depends on the Cabildo de Tenerife.
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