The manager of the Madrid hospital who turned away patients to increase profits is stepping down from the center

BarcelonaThe CEO of Ribera Salut – the company that manages the Torrejón de Ardoz Hospital in Madrid – Pablo Gallart, has temporarily stepped down from his responsibilities at this healthcare center following the release of audio recordings of a meeting in which He ordered the rejection of unprofitable patients or procedures in order to lengthen waiting lists and increase his profits.The Ribera group has stated in a press release that Gallart's withdrawal from the hospital's management aims to "guarantee the group's values and ethics." The recordings that triggered this move were published by the newspaper. The Country These statements correspond to a meeting held on September 25th with management from the group and the hospital. In one of his remarks, Gallart said: "In Torrejón, in 2022 and 2023, we decided as an organization to make an effort to reduce the waiting list. All I ask is: let's reverse course." Now, the management company claims to be conducting an "in-depth" audit with the aim of "guaranteeing that there has been no breach of quality standards in patient care, professional ethics, or the law."

The publication of these words spoken by Gallart during the meeting has drawn criticism from the Madrid left and also from the Spanish government. Both the Minister of Health, Mónica García, and the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, criticized the healthcare model promoted by the PP (People's Party), with its privatization of hospitals, which the administration of Isabel Díaz Ayuso maintains in some Madrid hospitals. The PSOE has also asked the Madrid government to completely reverse the private management agreement, and Más Madrid has requested the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate the awarding of the hospital concession to the Ribera Salud group.

Assess whether it should be "reported and sanctioned"

Once the Ribera Salut group announced that its CEO would be leaving the Torrejón de Ardoz Hospital, the Madrid Health Department canceled the emergency meeting it had scheduled with the company's executives, including Gallart. The regional government has also requested a new meeting with the company's top executive. For its part, the People's Party (PP), president Alberto Núñez Feijóo, welcomed Gallart's resignation and said that from now on it is necessary to determine if there are "other types" of responsibilities and if he should be "reported and sanctioned." Therefore, he said, a "rigorous" inspection is necessary to understand "how the hospital has behaved from a surgical and medical point of view."