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Some 200 residents of Cuevas del Becerro protested outside the doors of the Hospital de la Serranía de Ronda on Tuesday complaining about ambulances which have arrived to at least two emergencies in their village without any medical staff.
Residents are demanding an improvement in the emergency health care they receive from the Serranía de Malaga health management area, which depends on the Junta. Cuevas del Becerro mayor Pedro Nieblas said there had already been similar complaints, but concern about the quality of this service had worsened.
Recent unease is due to two recent health emergencies which involved a person who suffered a heart attack and an individual who fainted. For both incidents, ambulances arrived to the village without doctors or nurses, only with the driver of these vehicles, the mayor said.
"On 27 December at 7.50pm, a call was made to 112 for a possible heart attack and the ambulance arrived at 9.10pm with no medical staff on board, only the driver, who requested that someone accompany the patient to the hospital, where he arrived at 9.43pm," the mayor pointed out.
"On 28 December at 6.35am, another incident was reported after a young woman collapsed. The ambulance arrived at 7.20am, again without medical or nursing staff. They arrived at the hospital at 7.40am," Nieblas added. "We do not understand how an ambulance can come to attend an urgent call without doctors or nurses who can provide care to the patient in the first moments that are vital to save a life."
Nieblas also pointed out the response time to these emergencies as the ambulances "take 40 minutes and in most cases an hour to reach Cuevas". "We don't understand how an ambulance has to come from El Burgo, which is approximately 30 kilometres away, on a mountain road in poor condition, when the nearest emergency service is in Ronda, only 20 kilometres away," he added.
Cuevas del Becerro, with some 1,600 inhabitants, has a health centre open on weekday mornings with two doctors and two nurses, partly shared with the town of Serrato. The mayor, who also complained the village does not have a paediatric specialist, said emergency care has deteriorated over the years, as in the past ambulances did come to the village with medical staff and in "acceptable" time.
Cristóbal Jiménez, the resident who suffered the heart attack, now recovered after he was hospitalised, said on Tuesday "we are in the third world". "What prevails are "capitalist interests and as for health... well, let the health delegate come and explain to me what happened," he added.
'Protocols were followed'
The Serranía de Malaga health management area said "current protocols were followed" in reference to the two incidents. "In emergency care, cases are prioritised according to their seriousness and the distribution of resources such as mobile ICUs and ambulances is organised through the emergency and urgent care coordination centres (CCUE) located in the eight provincial cities. In the event of any incident, calls are managed and prioritised according to a standardised system that classifies emergencies from most to least serious," it added.
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