Bilbao, 4 Dec (EFE).-the Basque Minister of health, Rafael Bengoa (PSE-EE), will not meet tomorrow with his counterpart in La Rioja, José Ignacio Nieto, if this community not before undertakes in writing to attend patients Alava localities bordering.
The confrontation between Basque country and La Rioja emerged last September, when La Rioja, Government chaired by Pedro Sanz (PP), decided to stop providing health care to the residents of nearby Logroño, la Rioja alavesa towns that for years were treated at the hospital in that city.
The newspapers El Correo and El Mundo published today two interviews with Basque, counselor in which Bengoa says that last night still had not received a written document in which La Rioja commits itself to take care to these patients.
Bengoa, which recognizes that as they advance the hours their optimism in this matter “diminishes”, emphasizes that without that commitment by written tomorrow would be not held the announced meeting with the Government of La Rioja to negotiate an agreement to solve the conflict.
In the case of that finally there was the meeting considers that the matter should be dealt in the first inter-territorial Council health and that “many meetings between administrations serving patients in border areas” will be needed because these situations “affect all the autonomies”.
Bengoa stressed that the Basque Government dismisses economically compensate La Rioja to accommodate these Alava patients and reiterates that what should be done is to agree “at the national level” should be managing border health care.
