"No order was given": the Andalusian Regional Government still hasn't clarified the origin of the mammogram chaos
The spokesperson for the organization Amama says that the regional minister placed the problem on a company that was supposed to call the patients.
A month after the news broke Delays and errors in communication regarding the detection and early diagnosis of breast cancer in Andalusia, The regional government has gone from reporting a dozen affected women to more than 2,300, but neither President Juanma Moreno Bonilla nor his deputy and new Health Minister, Antonio Sanz, have offered an explanation for the origin of this crisis. The government has announced additional funding and personnel for the screening programs—which Andalusian professionals, those affected, and the opposition consider insufficient—but what exactly happened that prevented the healthcare system from contacting women who had received suspicious mammogram results? In a parliamentary Health Committee meeting this Thursday, which lasted about four hours, Sanz attempted to downplay the issue and assured that his government has taken "measures" to ensure that "this does not happen again." He also stated that "what is necessary" has been done to ensure that all women who received inconclusive results—meaning that a tumor cannot be confirmed, but neither can it be ruled out—receive their follow-up tests before November 30. Regarding responsibility for these communication errors, however, he insisted that "no general order was given" from his administration for specialists not to notify patients of their results. "Professionals make decisions based on medical criteria," he asserted. The president of the Seville Association of Women with Breast Cancer (Amama), Ángela Claverol, met with Sanz on Wednesday and on Thursday stated that the regional minister attributed the origin of the problems detected in the breast cancer screening program to "verbal orders." "According to him, it was a verbal order from the department heads, who said it wasn't necessary to call [the women] anymore because there was a company that would do it," she indicated. Sanz did not repeat this explanation during his appearance on Thursday. Claverol indicated that the regional minister did not clarify which company was in charge of this process and, when she asked him again, he referred to a number of people or working groups. "I must be very clumsy, because, in the end, I didn't know the answer," he said. Sanz, on the other hand, described the meeting with Amama as "very productive" and emphasized that he did give "all the necessary explanations." Claverol admits that there is still distrust of the Regional Government and has detailed that the Regional Minister has been asked five questions: where the breast cancer screening care system failed; how many diagnostic tests have been carried out since the error came to light; how long it will take to perform biopsies and surgeries and to assign oncologists; what type of contracts will be offered to professionals; and how long the Regional Government will take to address the financial claims of those affected, so that they don't have to wait "for years." The Minister's Reproaches
Health Minister Mónica García traveled to Seville this Thursday to meet with Amama, and in a press conference, she asserted that the Andalusian Regional Government has "lost control" over breast cancer screening programs due to "negligence" and urged Moreno to provide explanations. "There's no way to understand Moreno Bonilla's handling of the crisis, just as there's no way to understand the handling of the crisis by Mazón, Díaz Ayuso, or Mañueco. It's always the same playbook of discrediting, insults, and passing the buck," she criticized. García emphasized that the Ministry will "get to the bottom of" the problems detected, whether through legal, administrative, or civil channels, and will investigate what happened to mammograms that are unsigned or have disappeared. These statements have infuriated Sanz, who accused the minister of engaging in political campaigning, given that she lacks jurisdiction in this matter during the parliamentary committee hearing. In this regard, he indicated that the Andalusian screening program is working and that his government will now improve it with more resources.
