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HEALTH CARE
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Private management of public hospitals creates a new gap between the Community of Madrid and the Spanish Government

The leak of a recording of the CEO of the Ribera Group (manager of the Torrejón Hospital) has sparked controversy. The President of the Spanish Government and several members of the Government accuse the Community of Madrid of turning health care into a "business".

(Foto de ARCHIVO)

Fachada del Hospital Universitario de Torrejón, a 1 de diciembre de 2025, en Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid (España).



Eduardo Parra / Europa Press

02 DICIEMBRE 2025

01/12/2025

Torrejón Hospital in Madrid.

News of a new political confrontation between the Community of Madrid and the Spanish Government over the private management of public hospitals Thenewspaper El País  publishes a recording of the CEOare of the Ribera group Pablo Gallart, in which Pablo Gallart urged his managers to exclude patients and reduce less profitable operationsin order to increase economic performance.

The Torrejón University Hospital, inaugurated in 2011 under Esperanza Aguirre and operating through public-private management, is owned and financed by the public, while the provision of the health service is the responsibility of the Ribera Salud Group through an administrative concession.

The Madrid Department of Health has stressed that "under no circumstances will practices be permitted that harm access to health care." The department has convened an urgent meeting with the company's management and has taken a technical team to the hospital to assess the situation firsthand. However, the department has ensured that "no breaches"have been detected in the concession contract.

The response of the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, has been strong. In a message on the X social network, he has accused the PP of "turning health care into business and the possibility of enriching the disease." He added that what happened has revealed "what is the privatization of health:more waiting lists, more profitability and more injustice. "

The Minister of Health, Monica García, announced that her department will investigate the case thoroughly, considering that "there is a mechanism to increase the performance of private companies." In the same vein, the Minister for Digital Transformation and General Secretary of the PSOE in Madrid, Óscar López, has described it as "absolutely shameful" that happened and has denounced privatizations as "turning a right of all into a business of a few."

For their part, Mas Madrid and the PSOE have advanced that they will take legal action against the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso , which is why they believe that "a serious violation of the right to health" and public health in Madrid has been used "in the service of private economic interests".

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