New investigation by the Prosecutor's Office to clarify changes in breast cancer cases in Andalusia

BarcelonaThe Seville Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the complaint filed by patients this week who reported that some medical records related to mammograms and ultrasounds used to detect breast cancer had been deleted or altered. The investigation opened this Friday follows the one opened on Thursday by the Andalusian High Prosecutor's Office to investigate errors in the early detection program for the disease.

Specifically, the new investigation now being launched by the Seville Prosecutor's Office responds to the complaint filed on Tuesday by the Association of Women with Breast Cancer (AMAMA). According to the organization, some reports on the digital platforms ClicSalud (for users) and Diraya (used in the public health system) have had changes in some of the diagnostic nomenclature. In some cases, they suggest that the document has disappeared or the name of the professional who signed the report has been erased.

This very Friday, shortly before learning of this second opening of proceedings, the new Andalusian Minister of Health, Antonio Sanz, considered the decision of the Superior Prosecutor's Office of Andalusia to open an investigation into breast cancer screenings to be "logical and coherent", and assured that the Regional Government has "answers". "We have received the notification and, logically, we have the answer", he said in an interview on Canal Sur Radio. Regarding the accusations of manipulation of mammograms by entities and the oppositionSanz has played the "attack on healthcare professionals" card: "They are the only ones who can access the tests," he stated.

PP snubs the minister

Since it became public in early October that errors in the early detection system for breast cancer affected at least 2,000 women in Andalusia, the crisis has escalated to become a new political battleground between the Spanish government and the opposition, led by the PP. On Monday, the Ministry of Health asked all autonomous communities for data on cancer screenings and Some of the PP's regional governments – Madrid, the Valencian Community and Murcia – refused. To do so, accusing the executive of seeking "political confrontation," this Friday, the Popular Party's Health Ministers stood up the Minister, Mónica García, at the meeting of the Interterritorial Health Council that was scheduled to be held in Zaragoza.

The Popular Party denounces that the Spanish government is making "partisan and sectarian use" of the cancer screening case, which represents the biggest political crisis that Juanma Moreno Bonilla's administration has had to face. In contrast, the minister criticized the PP ministers for wanting to hide data on the matter and emphasized that the cancellation of the plenary session has prevented the transfer of 2 million euros for cancer care and surveillance.

In parallel, also this Friday, the Andalusian Ministry of Health will establish the breast cancer screening monitoring committee, in which specialized associations are expected to participate. However, the complainant organization Amama will not attend. Its president, Ángela Claverol, has justified it: "At Amama we do things in a more organized way, not with a pim-pam". In fact, the organization claims that for three years they had warned of cases of women who had not been informed that the results they had undergone mammograms were either "questionable" or "inconclusive," and who later discovered they had the disease.