The Council Defends the Vinalopó Hospital Concession: 'It is a Service Provided for its Quality'

Councillor and spokesperson for the Council, Miguel Barrachina, defended on Friday the continuation of the concession to the Ribera healthcare group for the Vinalopó Hospital in Elche, asserting that it is a service 'provided for its quality' and maintains 'the highest standards', while also stating that the Valencian Government rejects 'ideological prejudices'.

'We are very proud of all our healthcare professionals and all our public service provisions. We believe that everyone, including those from PSPV and Compromís, has the right to the best public or contracted services funded by public money,' he stated during the press conference following the Council's plenary meeting regarding this concession managed by Ribera, the same healthcare group running the Torrejón Hospital, amidst controversy following the release of an audio where its CEO, Pablo Gallart, urged rejecting unprofitable patients or practices.

Barrachina emphasized that Vinalopó is 'a hospital and a service that has the best qualities' and is 'constantly monitored because it is part of the public network, with the same intensity as other public hospitals.'

'Here we have no ideology, only a vocation for effective patient service,' Barrachina maintained, recalling that last year saw the reversion to public healthcare of services previously contracted in the health areas of Dénia and Manises, and initiated, 'because otherwise the deadline would have expired,' the Vinalopó Hospital.

Meanwhile, the PSPV has denounced that the former CEO of Ribera Salud, Pablo Gallart, was the one who signed the Vinalopó Hospital concession on behalf of the healthcare group, which the PP extended in 2024 without conducting any audit.

They also criticized that in the Valencian Community 'there is still a reliance on companies that choose to increase waiting lists to boost their profit margins.'

This was expressed by the PSPV spokesperson in Les Corts, José Muñoz, and the socialist health spokesperson, Rafa Simó. Muñoz warned that Gallart, 'involved in these practices, was the person who signed the Ribera Salud concession for the Elx-Crevillent department. 'We are not talking about just anyone, but the same person who has audios discussing how privatized healthcare increases waiting lists so the company can earn more money,' he emphasized.

On his part, the socialist health spokesperson, Rafa Simó, demanded 'a real audit, which is an external audit not based on partial data provided by Ribera Salud,' and stated that throughout the legislature, the socialists have requested 'all the reports on which the PP based its decision not to revert this department' against 'the mockery we were presented with last year.'

'Here the question that arises for all of us is what the new Council of Pérez Llorca is thinking, who yesterday through its spokesperson --Miguel-- Barrachina said that nothing was happening here and everything was moving forward, we cannot feel anything but indignant because we did not know if we were listening to the Council's spokesperson or Ribera Salud's spokesperson, because he contradicts his own party on something that is obvious,' he stressed.