President Pedro Sánchez has declared that Spain’s health centres will be in charge of detecting cases after confinement form Coronavirus pandemic

President Pedro Sánchez has declared that Spain’s health centres will be in charge of detecting cases after confinement from Coronavirus pandemic.

SPAIN’S President Pedro Sánchez has asked the autonomous presidents to “strengthen” the primary care network, which will be one of the “fundamental elements to define de-escalation in each of the territories.”

He requested that as future managers of the virus, primary care should carry out tests, follow up contacts and facilitate the isolation of new cases.

Salvador Tranche, president of the Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine demands more means, both material and human. In addition to the Covid-19 cases, many doctors have had to postpone consultations for chronic diseases that perhaps were not so urgent. But there will come a time when they will have to attend to them. This, he continues, could be facilitated with better technical means: “Having the ability to send an email to patients or to schedule video calls by secure and official means.”

Territorial plans

Each territory will probably have some differences depending on the incidence of the disease. Madrid, unlike other regions, will not have the opportunity to reinforce its primary care, at least until the field hospital that opened in the Ifema fairgrounds is finished emptying.

In Andalucia, the Board manages a report prepared by experts from the Ministry of Health, based on the recommendations of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, which stresses: “To proceed with unconfinement, maintaining primary care must be considered to provide urgent care and not delayed, clinical monitoring of cases other than Covid-19, and assisting in the home isolation of those infected with the virus and the possible increase in cases. ”

Health sources from the Generalitat of Catalonia acknowledge that it is still too early to think about this phase, but they assume that the actions will focus on community management. “Something similar will happen to what happens with the flu. From the vaccination campaign with a special focus on the most vulnerable, to monitoring and controlling the population, through interaction with chronic patients, it will be carried out at the primary level.”