Trauma unit at Algeciras hospital to be closed over holidays

Unions criticize the 'imposition'
Aimed at avoiding overtime and holiday pay

Punta de Europa Hospital

ALGECIRAS -- The Andalucía Health Service (SAS, Servicio Andaluz de Salud) has decided yet again to close the Trauma Unit at the Punta de Europa Hospital over the holidays -- from December 20 to January 9 -- ostensibly because there is usually little activity during this period. On enquiry, the district authorities (Área de Gestión Sanitaria del Campo de Gibraltar) pointed out that other units will be reinforced and beds will be reserved for use if necessary.

The CSIF union raised the alarm over the temporary closure, declaring that it rejected the measure that will lose 27 of the available beds. It pointed out that patients and staff will be transferred to the Surgery Department. This was rejected out of hand two years ago as the result of adverse reports from the Preventative Medicine that pointed out the 'potential risks' possible when two separate services were brought together on the same floor. Now, says the union, the decision is 'imposed' on them.

New Health Minister for 'political strength'

• Former PP Parliamentary Spokesperson is a party man, close to Soraya
• No further changes in Cabinet planned, says PP

New Minister (r.) and predecessor
at hand-over

MADRID -- Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made the decision last Monday to include a party loyalist in his cabinet in substitution of Ana Mato, whose husband is under investigation in the Gürtel case and who resigned last week as a result. The new minister, Alfonso Alonso, was sworn in as Minister of Health, Social Policy and Equality  on Wednesday last. Alonso, 47, hails from Vitoria, Galicia, and is known to be politically close to Vice-President Soraya Sáenz de Santa María, whose power in the cabinet is thus increased. She was also instrumental in choosing the new Minister of Justice, Rafael Catalá when Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón resigned last month. The new man at Health

Spaniards work 277 hours longer than Germans

• Number of working hours is not equal to work quality
• Spaniards 'sit around' doing very little

EUROPE -- The myth exists that Germans work harder than their equivalents in the Mediterranean but the numbers don't agree. Spaniards who are still lucky enough to still have a job in the first place, or those who have managed to reinvent themselves by becoming self-employed, work an average of 1,665 hours a year -- compared to the German average, about 300 hours below that. This is according to the OECD (Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation) in its Better Life Index/Work-Life Balance latest report. However, Spain is not at the head of the world ranking for the longest hours. That is headed by such countries as Mexico, Korea and Chile. On the other hand, Germany and Holland have the lowest average annual working hours of all the OECD countries: between 1,350 and 1,450 hours.

Sperm: the new white gold?

MADRID – Spain has become a major exporter of human semen. It has to do with a number of things, not least of which are that it is not illegal in this country to donate sperm. This is why, for instance, Spain recently began exporting it to Portugal, where donations are not allowed, and nor are artificial insemination of lesbian couples or single mothers. People flock to Spain for artificial insemination, principally, from other less progressive European countries and from around the world. //The fact is, too, that the quality of sperm, in the developed world at least, has been decreasing over the years.  The reasons behind this are diverse: alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, fast foods in terms of nutrition, stress, fashion dictates in tight clothing, some sports such as cycling (which puts pressure on the testicles) and an increase in obesity in developed nations. There are more but these are the most common.

According to research carried out by the Department of Growth and Reproduction at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, using scientific studies of those years, the average sperm count descended alarmingly between 1940 and 1990. From 113 million spermatozoa per millilitre to 66 million, almost half.

Another study, published in HumanReproduction magazine, confirms the downward spiral. Between 1989 and 2005, the sperm count per millilitre is now a mere 49 million. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) does not see this count as alarming, as the established minimum is 15 million, as it asserts in a manual they publish on the subject.

Single mothers and homosexual couples are 60% of the business

In the meantime, sperm banks have arisen like mushrooms. Ole Schou, who founded the world’s largest, Cryos, based in Denmark, agrees that tendencies and attitudes are changing rapidly. He adds that only 40% of his clientele is heterosexual couples; the rest are single mothers and homosexual couples. Cryos exports to 70 countries, which they can do in 24 hours. “Since our foundation in 1991, we have helped in the conception of some 30,000 babies, about 2,000 a year.” This, he says, is due to the company’s strict quality controls and in part to Danish law.

Having begun with university students as donors, and having expanded exponentially, Cryos exploits the international market with profits at the 80% mark. The number of donors is a “state secret” according to Schou. He is at present studying the possibility of opening offices in other countries, including Spain, in order to offer different kinds of donors – different specifications.

The law in this country forbids payment for donations but allows compensation ‘for the trouble’. Men in Spain can make an extra €1200 in six months, according to local sources. Many sperm banks, not just here, have an open clause in their donor contracts that says that at age 18, the children resulting from a donation, are allowed to contact the donor.

(Source: www.quo.es)

Teresa Romero is free of Ebola

Excellent news: the nurse who contracted the disease after voluntarily attending to the two Spanish missionaries who died from it, is free of Ebola. She underwent a second test yesterday and it was announced that there are no longer any signs of it in her system. Doctors at the Carlos III hospital say that she must now take plenty of rest and build up her strength.

Ebola in Spain: How Soraya took command

MADRID – We're very pleased to hear that senior nurse Teresa Romero, Europe’s first Ebola victim, has survived the first fortnight of having the virus diagnosed – there is a much better survival rate among those who do. While still in the special unit at the Carlos III hospital’s special Ebola unit, she has spoken over the phone to her husband and is as active as she can be. We wish her well and can but thank her for volunteering for a risky job. But this item is not about her; it is about how the Government has handled the emergency. Accused of mishandling procedures after the deaths of two missionaries, and Teresa being practically insulted by Health Councillor of the Community of Madrid Javier Rodriguez, for doing so (he has since apologised but has not resigned), the matter was handled by the Minister for Health, Ana Mato, who did not appear to do a particularly good job – then Soraya Sáenz de Santa María Antón took over.

Only Health and Education to be saved from Budget cuts in 2015

'New La Línea Hospital' still 'under
construction after 5 years' hiatus

SEVILLA – The Junta de Andalucía’s governing coalition (PSOE and IU) last week gave another twist to the draft on the region’s 2015 Budget. While, yet again, the budget is surrounded by difficulties in coalition priorities, principally regarding the central government’s (PP) rule that all the regions’ deficits must decrease by 0.7% and also as the result of the resources coming from the State are down by €600mm, neither party foresees ‘great clashes’ with the accounts, though they do warn that it will be ‘the little things’ that could be the problems. In any case, the Treasury is aiming at ring fencing monies for education and health, so that when the working committees present the negotiated figures for the Junta’s approval, these two items will have the same amount of money as this year, at least. That is the objective, but neither party is willing to give assurances that it will be so. (Ed. Note: Please forgive a large measure of scepticism regarding these promises.)

Europe’s first Ebola case transferred to specialised hospital

MADRID – The nurse who attended missionary Manuel García Viejo, who died of the Ebola virus on September 25, was last night moved to the special isolation ward at the Carlos III hospital ‘as a precaution’. It was confirmed yesterday afternoon that she had contracted the virus and has been in isolation ever since. As a nursing auxiliary, the woman, whose name hasn’t been divulged to the media, worked at the Laz – Carlos III hospital, where she now is being submitted to further tests. Spanish news reports say that she had had direct contact with García Viejo twice, which is when she reportedly contracted the viral disease. Her husband and recent contacts are being monitored, including 30 other medical staff at the hospital.

Processed foods contain an increasing amount of salt

MADRID – OCU, the principal Spanish consumer organization, recently carried out a study that revealed the presence of salt in 209 processed food items, and that the amount increases considerably since the previous such study in 2010: 6% on average. In only four years.  An excess in salt intake on a daily basis can lead to serious health problems, as we are told constantly. Among other things, and quite likely, according to the medical profession, is high blood pressure, which in turn can lead to  number of other complications. The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN in its Spanish acronym), points out that Spaniards consume double the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended amount, which is 5 grams for the general population. The study also reveals that 75% of the amount of salt we eat comes from processed foods.

Health Ministry to finance Hepatitis C medication

MADRID –The Ministry of Health announced recently that it will at last finance a medication that cures Hepatitis C in 90% of cases, but which remained unfinanced because it costs some €60,000 per treatment. Therefore, only 400 of thousands of sufferers have received the medication. El Pais last Tuesday said that at least nine Spaniards had paid for the treatment from their own pockets. However, the Ministry has agreed to pay the manufacturer of the brand Sovaldi, the Gilead laboratory, ‘only’ €25,000 per treatment. It will supposedly be available from November, after nine months of hard negotiation to reduce the cost. (Coming soon: What is 'Hep C '? and more on this important subject.)

Roll-ups are unhealthier than ordinary cigarettes

MADRID – It is no news that sales of roll-up tobacco have experienced a boom during the present financial crisis. A recent report doesn't mention sales in the rest of Europe, where it’s easy to conclude that something similar has occurred as a way to make the habit cheaper for smokers or as a step towards giving it up. Spain’s National Commission for the Tobacco Market recently issued a report confirming the fact. This week the Commission issued another report on roll-ups (tabaco de liar in Spanish), which said that the reason for the upsurge in sales may not be entirely due to financial constraints but also because there is a widespread belief that roll-ups are ‘healthier’ than ordinary cigarettes . They’d be wrong: various studies have concluded that although he or she may be smoking less (down from an average of 27.9 per day to 18.5 in Spain), they are nevertheless breathing a heavier concentration of carbon monoxide, which damages the arteries and is often the cause of heart disease, heart attacks, aneurysms, and more.