Autonomous legislation prevents Alcossebre-Alcala contracting the services of an ambulance from the Red Cross
Francisco Juan: “The Health Department must give us a solution and provide a 24-hour service for us or enable us to contract the Red Cross
Alcala-Alcossebre will be without the ambulance service which the Red Cross was going to provide and which would cover the whole day, complementing the 12-hour Health Department ambulance service. Contracting the Red Cross services from 2001 was how the Council ensured the 24-hour health transport service. However, the Red Cross Provincial Assembly contacted the Council last December to let them know that, due to a series of judicial obstacles and competition, as the Generalitat Valenciana is the exclusive provider of health services, contracting the service elsewhere cannot be permitted.
Mayor Francisco Juan said that “it is an extremely serious situation as the Health Department is refusing to provide us with the 24-hour service and, also, is preventing us contracting this service from the Red Cross, which is very respected by the residents, to meet the shortages”. The Council has repeatedly asked the Health Department to locate a SAMU in the town, as well as to increase the ambulance service from the current 12 hours to 24 hours, but, for the present, the Health Department has given no positive response. On the other hand, in view of the problem with contracting the Red Cross, the Council has written to the Territorial Health Management requesting information on how the request to be allowed to continue contracting this service is progressing.
Juan insisted that “having a 24-hour ambulance service is essential for our municipality because, as we have said on many occasions, we have two nuclei and our population is greatly increased during a large part of the year. We have confirmation from the health professionals that having only a 12-hours ambulance service could have very negative consequences”.
Alcala-Alcossebre will be without the ambulance service which the Red Cross was going to provide and which would cover the whole day, complementing the 12-hour Health Department ambulance service. Contracting the Red Cross services from 2001 was how the Council ensured the 24-hour health transport service. However, the Red Cross Provincial Assembly contacted the Council last December to let them know that, due to a series of judicial obstacles and competition, as the Generalitat Valenciana is the exclusive provider of health services, contracting the service elsewhere cannot be permitted.
Mayor Francisco Juan said that “it is an extremely serious situation as the Health Department is refusing to provide us with the 24-hour service and, also, is preventing us contracting this service from the Red Cross, which is very respected by the residents, to meet the shortages”. The Council has repeatedly asked the Health Department to locate a SAMU in the town, as well as to increase the ambulance service from the current 12 hours to 24 hours, but, for the present, the Health Department has given no positive response. On the other hand, in view of the problem with contracting the Red Cross, the Council has written to the Territorial Health Management requesting information on how the request to be allowed to continue contracting this service is progressing.
Juan insisted that “having a 24-hour ambulance service is essential for our municipality because, as we have said on many occasions, we have two nuclei and our population is greatly increased during a large part of the year. We have confirmation from the health professionals that having only a 12-hours ambulance service could have very negative consequences”.
