The Andalusian president, Juan Manuel Moreno (PP), has for the first time put specific figures on failures in breast cancer screening, and he has done so outside of Andalusia, in Barcelona, in the context of the presentation of his book Coexistence manual. During the event, he not only admitted the political impact that this case has had for the PP, but he also recognized that of the 2,713 affected people officially counted by the Ministry of Health, “99% do not have tumor lesions.” That is, 1% would have developed a tumor, which represents thirty women.
Moreno has relativized this figure by highlighting that it is part of a program where half a million mammograms are performed. And he considers that the origin of the problem is more than localized, placing it in the fact that “a department head skipped the protocol” at the Virgen del Rocío hospital in Seville.
These official data from the Board have been strongly contested from the first moment by Amama, the association that uncovered the case, which in its last appearance linked three deaths to the screening failures. Likewise, at the end of the month there were 4,000 queries received for this problem and 261 confirmed cases of women who have suffered delays, of which 90% could have developed the disease.
“Personally I had a bad time”
Given what happened, Moreno assures for his part that he has “felt responsible” and that “I personally had a bad time,” although he claims to have faced this “book” crisis with decisions such as “asking for forgiveness.” “That was a mistake and I assume it is a mistake,” which does not mean that he cannot criticize that in this period “things that were not true” have been said, as reported by Europa Press. In this sense, he considers the crisis over and is pleased that he already said that “time was going to put things in their place”, thus alluding to the filing by the Seville Prosecutor’s Office of the complaint filed by Amama (the association that reported these cases) for the alleged manipulation of mammograms.
The social and political scandal that the problem has generated is considered the “worst and most painful” episode in his almost seven years in office. It has been the “deepest” crisis despite suffering others such as the coronavirus pandemic, although he defends that “I was unfairly treated” because he assures that what “I have taken the most care of” has been health management, an area where he has portrayed himself as very sensitive due to a personal episode such as the death of his father from cancer.
In political terms, Moreno has also put figures for the first time on the impact of this crisis. “I can say it publicly: we dropped six points,” data certified by the monthly polls carried out by his party, to immediately specify that “we have already recovered them.”
Despite this, he argues that “the electoral result does not matter”, considering that the situation is serious as it would have affected “only one woman. Of course, he is pleased that with this episode “reinforced screening” because “we have checked ourselves”, updating a protocol that as of January 12 will include the performance of mammography, ultrasound and biopsy on the same day in cases of high suspicion of cancer.
Vox, the main enemy to beat
And although he considers that the result at the polls does not matter in the face of a problem of this magnitude, he has also analyzed his party’s electoral options for the Andalusian elections that will be held in 2026. “Right now we are not guaranteed an absolute majority,” he has arrived, although he considers that “we are close” and declares himself “optimistic” about the challenge of renewing it.
“When the electoral moment arrives, the useful vote will work,” he assumes, especially in the face of a PSOE “that is disappearing.” In this sense, he considers that Vox is now “the most complex adversary”, indicating that it may be the party that “can break our majority.” He also guarantees that, before the appointment with the polls, “I am not going to cross-dress”, arguing that “in politics, as in life, what is authentic works”, which is why he has maintained that the strength of the message is “to be me with my qualities and defects.”
He considers that the regional elections of 2026 will be “very tough.” And after pointing out that “when you sleep well it is easier to make mistakes”, he predicted that these Andalusian elections “will be very close” despite “the setbacks in the screening that has hit us.” To this he has added another factor such as the fact of “having been in the government for seven years” because “that wears out.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
