{"id":23503,"date":"2020-12-18T15:04:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/?p=23503"},"modified":"2020-12-18T15:57:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T14:57:15","slug":"covid-19-cracks-in-the-worlds-best-health-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mallorcaglobalmag.es\/en\/covid-19-cracks-in-the-worlds-best-health-system\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19, cracks in the world\u2019s best health system"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite the fact that Spain has suffered\u00a0the worst incidence of COVID-19\u00a0in Europe at certain times of the pandemic,\u00a0most of the scientists consulted\u00a0by Mallorca Global maintain that the\u00a0Spanish public health system is still\u00a0one of the best in the world and blame the shortcomings highlighted by the\u00a0health crisis mainly on the budget cuts.\u00a0Since 2009, the year of the swine flu\u00a0pandemic, the public health coffers\u00a0have not had any joy, quite the contrary,\u00a0they have suffered an unjustified\u00a0impoverishment that now explains the\u00a0cracks in the health structure.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Text: J. E. Iglesias.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"El

Health workers, on the front line against COVID-19. Photo: HUSE<\/p><\/div>\n

Both Ildefonso Hern\u00e1ndez<\/strong>, professor\u00a0of Public Health and general\u00a0director of the Ministry of Health\u00a0between 2008 and 2011, from whose\u00a0position he directed the fight against\u00a0swine flu in 2009, along with the\u00a0leading scientist in infectious diseases\u00a0and collaborator of the World Health\u00a0Organization (WHO) Sebasti\u00e1n Cresp\u00ed<\/strong>\u00a0or the head of Primary Care Research\u00a0in the Balearic Islands, Joan Llobera<\/strong>,\u00a0ratify the budget stinginess of public\u00a0health in recent years.<\/p>\n

Cresp\u00ed adds another handicap that\u00a0has caused strong tensions in the\u00a0system: \u201cThe wild relocation of essential\u00a0health supplies production -from\u00a0masks to ventilators, through testing\u00a0capacity or vaccine production- has\u00a0left us unprotected when we needed\u00a0it most\u201d.<\/p>\n

Joan Llobera clarifies that in the first\u00a0wave \u201cit was not acted with the necessary\u00a0speed, although the measures\u00a0were effective. The Balearic Islands\u00a0had good indicators in the months of\u00a0March and April due to movement\u00a0restrictions, an obvious example that\u00a0had the harsh lockdown measures\u00a0been taken earlier, Spain would have\u00a0had better indicators and the public\u00a0health system would not have been as\u00a0collapsed.<\/p>\n

Ildefonso Hern\u00e1ndez envisions three\u00a0reasons for the bad data in Spain after\u00a0the de-escalation: the high mortality\u00a0rate in residences, as a fundamental.<\/p>\n\n\t\t