Benidorm urges the Government to “urgently” promote the 'ALS Law' and asks for more places for neurologists in MIR medical training

Benidorm City Council has approved today in a plenary session three important motions on health matters related to promoting the processing of the so-called 'ALS Law', the adhesion to the V Health Plan 2022-20230 of the Valencian Community and the request to the central Government of more MIR medical training places in all specialities, including Neurology.

Firstly, a motion by the Councilor for Health, Ana Pellicer, has been unanimously approved to urge the Government of Spain to “urgently” promote the processing of the so-called ALS Law “to guarantee a dignified life and comprehensive care.” ” to people affected by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

The motion recalls that ALS patients and their families “have been waiting for 22 months” for the Congressional Health Board to process the aforementioned law, whose consideration was approved unanimously in the Congress of Deputies on March 8, 2022. A law that, according to the Health Councilor, “aims to guarantee the conditions and care necessary for people affected by this disease to maintain their quality of life for as long as possible.”

“Every year,” Pellicer indicated, “about 900 new cases are diagnosed in Spain and life expectancy after diagnosis is between 2 and 5 years for 80% of patients.” Pellicer has stressed that “the evolution of the disease can vary greatly from one person to another.” He also recalled that the care needs required by these patients are 24 hours a day, seven days a week, "something that is currently carried out practically entirely by the families themselves, who in many cases have to give up their jobs to cope." "such care." “This is not about political colours, but about people's essential needs,” concluded the Health Councilor.

Subsequently, the plenary session approved, with the vote in favour of the municipal groups of the PP and PSOE and the abstention of Vox, the adherence of the City Council to the V Health Plan 2022-2030 of the Valencian Community, a plan that seeks to “improve the level of health in our society with concrete actions from the administration and with citizen participation” said Pellicer.

According to this plan, actions at the local level will focus on the creation of a local intersectoral and participatory working group with an equity perspective; the creation and dynamization of community participation processes that cover the analysis of the health situation including the map of assets for health, the prioritization, planning and development of actions aimed at health promotion and the deployment of community action projects in health whose effectiveness has been demonstrated by evidence and are linked to the objectives of the Health Plan.

The third health motion was presented by the socialist group and referred to the needs of the Regional Hospital in the speciality of Neurology, although it has been amended by the government team. Thus, the proposal was voted in favour by PP and Vox and with the abstention of the PSOE, agreed to reiterate the support and recognition of the City Council to all socio-health associations and affected people, as well as to continue joining all the initiatives they promote. Likewise, the final motion states that the council joins "the demand of the Ministry of Health in the request to the Ministry for more MIR medical training places in all specialities, including Neurology."

At this point, the Councilor for Health, Ana Pellicer, recalled that “both the hospital and the Ministry have already done everything they could, but the places are not filled because there are no neurologists.” She insisted, “The Ministry has declared these vacant positions as positions that are difficult to fill.” For this reason, she has stressed that the responsibility to create more MIR positions lies with the central government “and hence we demand the creation of these positions and to be able to have more professionals.

What we have to do, therefore, is join the petition so that this work is completed. The lack of professionals in Neurology cannot be solved if new positions are not created in that speciality and in all those that are difficult to fill,” she concluded.

In another order of things, the plenary session has also carried out with the support of all the groups the request to the Consortium of the Zonal Waste Plan 6 so that within two months it assumes the powers of the management, exploitation and maintenance of the eco-park of Benidorm, as reflected in the modified eco-park management project approved by its General Meeting in September 2022, after signing an agreement with the City Council. Until now, these powers fall to the City Council. The agreement contemplates that, if assumed by the Consortium, the protocol of intentions signed in July 2002 between the Generalitat and the City Council will be resolved and said powers will be transferred in favour of the Consortium.

Mónica Gómez, Councilor for the Environment, has stressed that the transfer “is for the benefit of the city of Benidorm, it represents significant savings for the municipal coffers and the reports are all favourable.”

The councillor has stated that to comply with the Consortium's Ecopark Management Project, "the Benidorm City Council can only, and must, assign to it the exploitation and maintenance of the infrastructure, containers and other material that it assumed in the Protocol of Intent, which would greatly speed up the procedures for the aforementioned transfer.” Gómez has specified that in January 2023 the Department of Road Cleaning requested the then presidency of the Consortium that the transfer be effective and operational before April 10 of last year "without such transfer having taken place to date."

For this reason, he has considered that if this situation continues "it may cause some damage to the City Council, since the new contract for the Urban Solid Waste and Cleaning of Public Spaces Service, whose tender was approved in the plenary session last December, does not contemplate the management of the eco-park.” For this reason, if once the contract has been awarded without the Consortium has assumed management of the facility, "the City Council would be forced to tender it in a new contract, generating new economic and contractual obligations and commitments." A procedure that “will not be immediate” since the participation of the Generalitat is necessary, which must authorize the transfer of powers to the Consortium.

An extrajudicial recognition of debt has also been carried out to pay outstanding invoices worth 367,566.91 euros, charged to the financial year 2023 from services provided to the City Council. The proposal "has relevant favourable reports" as pointed out by the Councilor for the Treasury, Aida García Mayor, who added that "they are basic expenses for services that are provided to the city and that suppliers must charge so as not to cause harm to them."

“We work to ensure that these relationships are as small as possible,” the councillor concluded.
Likewise, the assignment of a municipal technical engineer from the Benidorm City Council to the personnel structure of the Waste Consortium of Zonal Plan 6 as an advisor to its presidency has gone forward. The assignment occurs, according to the councillor of Ciclo del Agua and at the same time president of the Waste Consortium, José Ramón González de Zárate, because “a deficiency of personnel assisting the presidency has been detected, making it necessary to have, urgently, with a technician specialized in waste matters and independent of the management bodies of the Consortium, who provides objective advice on the aspects of his competence." The assignment will be carried out without prejudice to the functions and responsibilities that this person has in the City Council and will not entail any cost to the City Council.

The groups have unanimously approved to begin the procedure for granting distinction and decoration by the Generalitat to the Local Police agents Juan Carlos Costa Gómez and Luis Manuel Roselló Serrano. The first of them for his intervention on December 4 when he jumped from the police boat to a cliff area with very difficult access to help an injured person, staying with him for more than an hour until the arrival of the unit. aerial rescue. The second is for his “quick and decisive” intervention in helping a child in a cyanotic state who had choked on candy during the Three Kings Parade and whose parents were unable to revive him, making him expel the foreign object and breathe again.

Finally, the ratification of the act of free transfer to the City Council of a private plot located on Bernat de Sarrià Avenue of just over 714 square meters for the construction of a road with a ten-meter platform has been unanimously approved.