Hospital manager suggests taking mobile phones away from patients

THE manager of the Alcala de Henares Hospital will maintain her position despite calls for her dismissal after she suggested taking mobile phones away from patients.

Dolores Rubio will remain in the position as director despite the demands from unions and all opposition parties, and even the vice president, Ignacio Aguado, from Ciudadanos, in the regional government, for her cessation.

The controversy began when Cadena Ser broadcast a recording made during a meeting between Rubio and hospital managers in which she suggested taking mobile phones away from Covid patients to prevent them from refusing to be transferred to the Isabel Zendal Hospital, currently at the centre of sabotage claims.

“Relatives must be kept out of it” Rubio can be heard saying in the recording leaked by some of the attendees. “Why do they have to call their relatives? Why do they need a mobile?” she asks, going as far as to say that patients “don’t need mummy, or daddy, or the neighbour from across the street.”

Her words have sparked anger throughout the country, and only the Partido Popular defended her, while Vox did not demand her resignation.

Ignacio Aguado joined the stance of the opposition, unions, the hospital staff and people throughout the country, and said that “a sick person can’t be deprived of speaking to their family or have their phone taken away.” He added that he thought people who advocate such things should not be in such positions.

The Partido Popular said that they would not suspend her, while the regional president, Isabel Diaz Ayuso, has avoided the matter and the Partido Popular spokesman, Alfonso Serrano, said that he “would not be surprised if there was someone scaremongering” amongst patients in order to stop them being transferred to the Isabel Zendal Hospital.

Rubio complains that the hospital is receiving the health care professionals which they need in others.

Thank you for taking the time to read this news article “Hospital manager suggests taking mobile phones away from patients”. For more UK daily news, Spanish daily news and Global news stories, visit the Euro Weekly News home page.