Thousands of Hospital Beds Taken Away in Spain Despite the Recurring Outbreaks Across the Nation

More than four months into the outbreak of the pandemic, and in the middle of several new outbreaks in various parts of the Iberian Peninsula, the Health Service has not only increased the number of hospital beds but now it has begun to take them away.

THIS has been reported by the SATSE Nursing Union, which places the total number of lost hospitals beds this summer at around 7,000. According to them, this action has been taken to “save money and not have to hire additional health personnel and reduce waiting lists” but the Ministry of Health appears to have forgotten that “Covid-19 is still with us.”

The union believes that the Ministry of Health is making a dangerous mistake in shutting these beds down and that they have learnt “little” from the “serious crisis suffered from the coronavirus.”

According to the data collected within the different regions, from the near 7,000 beds closed in the State as a whole, 1,580 correspond to Andalucia; 1,270 to Madrid; 837 to the Basque Country; 500 to Aragon; 400 to Galicia and 342 to Extremadura.

In Catalonia it is estimated that 518 beds have closed, in Asturias 290; in Castilla-La Mancha, 194; in Murcia, 168; in the Balearic Islands, 136; in Navarra, 112; in Cantabria, 100; in Castilla y León, 87; in La Rioja, 38 and in the Canary Islands, 35. Lastly, “In the Valencian Community, the administration has not offered SATSE the necessary data.”