Health service hopes to provide single rooms

Balearic health minister Aina Salom said that the model of health service the government wanted included single rooms for patients, second opinions and easy access by telephone. She was speaking in Parliament in answer to a question tabled by the PP (Popular Party). “We want to ensure single rooms as soon as possible, to guarantee confidentiality,” she said, adding that her department was already working towards this goal. Another aim is to ensure second opinions and to guarantee easy access to the health service by phone, combined with reducing waiting lists to a reasonable amount of time, and ensuring that all emergencies are dealt with immediately. Parliament also approved the draft bill on the new system of financing Insular Councils, which will mean an “unparallelled improvement” according to finance minister Joan Mesquida. He pointed out that while the Insular Councils received 12.02 million euros in 1999, this year, the figure will be 42.07 million. During the debate the Popular Party criticised the new law as it did not take into account the Balearic government's income once it had accepted responsibility for various areas from the central government.