València (EFE).- Shock plans to improve the situation of primary health care and tackle mental health problems with a specific law, with prevention units or with more professionals, are some of the electoral proposals of the candidates to preside the Generalitat, consulted by EFE, for 28M.
The president of the Generalitat and socialist candidate for re-election, Ximo Puig, defends that it is necessary to guarantee that healthcare is public, universal, free and of the best quality, for which they have rescued public services, increased the number of professionals, improved the time dedicated to the patient and reinforced emergencies, and they are going to implement a plan to reduce waiting lists.
In the area of mental health, Puig claims that they have been the first to have a specific Plan, which focuses on young people, because “they are the future and have to be participants in society”, and in his opinion we must support youth “on the ground and from the grassroots”.
The PP candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, advocates solving “the health collapse, the lack of resources and management in primary care and the increasingly long waiting lists”, and announces that he has ready an action plan on mental health, which addresses both prevention and treatment.
This plan contemplates that there are mental health care and prevention units in all health departments and that family expenses deduct income, explains Mazón, who stresses that “something must be done quickly,” because cases of depression , anorexia, bulimia, anxiety or addictions “are on the rise and increasingly affect a younger population.”
Give appointments in a maximum of three days
For the Compromís candidate for 28M, Joan Baldoví, the first measure that Valencian health needs is to “recover the 800 million euros that the State owes” for care for displaced patients and allocate them to improve primary care, which needs a plan shock to give appointments in a maximum of three days.
In mental health, Baldoví advocates improving people’s lives to prevent these problems -a good job, quality public services or access to housing are “fundamental”, he says- and to reinforce public health care, for which proposes that all health centers have a psychologist who cares for whoever needs it.
The Unides Podem candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, Héctor Illueca, believes a “broad reform” is “essential” to strengthen primary care with an increase in its budget, improve the conditions of health personnel, expand mental health and health services orodental, and continue the deprivatization processes.
As regards mental health, after 28M it undertakes to carry out the first Valencian Mental Health law, so that comprehensive care is reinforced in the primary health care and social services teams, improve the staff of the Health Units Mental, increase the number of psychiatrists and improve ratios in very few profiles such as clinical psychology and specialized nursing in this area.
Restructure primary care and reduce waiting lists
For the Ciudadanos candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat, Mamen Peris, the most immediate measures that Valencian health needs are to restructure primary care and a crash plan to reduce waiting lists, and she defends that an electronic record of the patient is also key, to access it anywhere.
The way to tackle mental health problems is, in the opinion of Cs, to expand hospital beds and that if public health does not facilitate access to a psychologist or psychiatrist, there is the possibility of choosing a professional and that the Administration reimburse the amount, because they are not “a luxury”, but rather provide a “necessary” service.
The Vox candidate for the presidency of the Generalitat for 28M, Carlos Flores, maintains that the problems of Valencian public health “cannot be tackled from the ideological prejudices of those in charge” nor be resolved “by turning our backs on those who constitute the backbone” of the health system, the doctors.