Private clinics that assume almost all of the abortions that are requested in Madrid are not collecting the money due to them for the interventions. This has been denounced by the PSOE, which claims that they have “four months without receiving the money” and puts the debt at “one million euros”, according to the deputy in the Assembly of Madrid, Lorena Morales, who has met with the centers. The Community of Madrid admits that there are delays in the transfers and the Madrid Health Service is “reviewing the situation of each of the hospitals to expedite payments that are pending,” say sources of the Ministry of Health consulted by elDiario.es.
This situation is not new, but this time is already stretched in time, as corroborated also workers of the clinics with whom he has spoken elDiario.es. “The clinics are drowned, have been since June so,” says one of them. The centers have declined to make statements, but from the Ministry of Health acknowledge that “occasionally there may be delays in the payment of some invoices for the provision of this service within the administrative process”. They ensure, however, that it does not occur “in a generalized way in all hospitals”, something that contradicts the workers and the PSOE, who claim that at this moment they are not receiving anything.
In the statistics published annually by the Ministry of Health, and whose latest edition has been made public this Tuesday, of the 14,524 abortions that were recorded in the region, only three were performed in a public center and no hospital appears as a center that has reported interventions in 2020. The modus operandi is that of accredited centers. Women can go directly to them and in the case of abortions for medical reasons, hospitals refer them to one of the seven clinics that report interventions. The administration assumes the cost, that is, women do not pay for the intervention. Even now the clinics have not stopped their activity.
This is the prevailing model in Spain, where only 15% of abortions are performed in public centres. Some communities have opted for the establishment of agreements with clinics, but in the Community of Madrid is different: each hospital, depending on the health area to which the woman who comes to the center belongs, “pays the amount of interventions”, therefore, “there is no centralized payment from the Madrid Health Service,” says the organism. That is why the review being carried out by the Regional Ministry is hospital by hospital.
However, Morales, also spokeswoman in the Committee on Women and Secretary of Equality of the PSOE, complains that although hospitals are the way to make payments “the ultimate responsibility has the Ministry” and “this is a sign of his idleness. “The Community is suffocating the clinics because they do not have a model that gives them security and works with them without agreement or agreement,” says the deputy, who claims the Government of Isabel Díaz-Ayuso “to assume its responsibility to ensure the right conditions so that women can have an abortion safely”.
The Ministry of Health also recognizes that referrals from hospitals occur “by conscientious objection of their professionals,” as evidenced by the testimonies of women who have been denied abortions in public hospitals, such as the woman who tried at the Hospital Clínico San Carlos, a case broadcast by Cadena Ser.
According to the response that the Community gave Vox after a request for information, published by El País, in 2016 the public coffers transferred 3.4 million euros to the seven clinics; 3.7 in 2017 and 3.8 a year later. To this are added the transfers paid to the Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz, which goes separately for being a concerted hospital that belongs to the Quirónsalud group. They were 331,176.48 euros in 2016 and 325,886.40 in 2017.
The case of Madrid illustrates part of the obstacles that still persist in Spain in access to abortion and that motivate the reform of the law, approved 11 years ago, in which the Ministry of Equality is immersed. This Tuesday has begun the previous public consultation, the official process that starts the process. The aim is to ensure accessibility, gratuity and territorial equity. And among other plans, the department led by Irene Montero will regulate the conscientious objection of doctors through the implementation of a register that allows to know clearly what happens in each hospital to reorganize services and allow women to access public centers.
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