The scandal in the Torrejón de Ardoz Hospital as a result of some audio recordings revealed byThe Country This has provoked profound outrage. In the recordings, the CEO of the private group Ribera Salud—which manages the public hospital under a concession agreement—can be heard giving explicit orders to increase waiting lists by rejecting patients and tests that are not profitable. The case involves alleged malpractice by the Madrid hospital, which may have endangered patients by prioritizing profit over the fundamental right to health. The understandable concerns extend far beyond the hospital's users. Distrust permeates the entire healthcare privatization model implemented decades ago in the Community of Madrid, a model that originated precisely with what the same Ribera group began doing in the Valencian Community in the 1990s. The model is based on concessions to private groups to which the regional government pays a fixed annual fee based on population. In short: the hospital receives the same amount of money regardless of the number of operations or diagnostic tests it performs. The potential problems with this healthcare approach have now become very clear in Torrejón de Ardoz, but the Minister of Health herself, Mónica García, has warned that "it is not an isolated case." It is inevitable to wonder where the original sin lies that has allowed this situation to arise, or if something like this could happen in our country, where the healthcare model is based on a robust public network but also includes an essential role for private entities. The major difference with Madrid lies in the contracting model, in how and with whom this public-private collaboration is structured, and in the guarantees and controls that the administration must exercise to preserve equity and the common good.

Paths are nature. Traces in the territory that connect cardinal points, overcoming geographical features. They are, at the same time, culture. For an immense poetic spirit, like Walt Whitman's, "free of all limits and all imaginary lines," each path becomes a great gulp of space to breathe. "On foot and with a light heart I go along the road. / Healthy, free, the world before me. / The long dirt road will lead me wherever I will."