The Governing Council of the Military Council of Andalusia approved this Monday: Dismissal of Deputy Minister of HealthMaría Luisa del Moral, and her successor was Nicolás Navarro Díaz, current First Vice-President of the Granada Regional Parliament and Deputy Mayor of the City of Motril. The replacement, promoted by Antonio Sanz, health minister and Andalusian president’s right-hand man, is part of a major reorganization of the ministry after the breast cancer screening crisis, which has already seen a wave of resignations and firings at the highest levels of the ministry.
Navarro is a doctor with a long political career within the Granada People’s Party, and was appointed deputy minister at a time of extreme tensions in the government of Juan Manuel Moreno. Due to the health crisis, Notable political attire Massive demonstrations took place in eight Andalusian provinces, with more than 54,000 people taking to the streets last Sunday to demand public health care “without cuts and privatization.”
The new Deputy Minister was born in Motril in 1980, holds a medical degree from the University of Granada, and is an expert in family and community medicine. Until now he has held the following positions Head of Emergency Department, HLA University Inmaculada Hospitala private center belonging to the HLA group, has been integrated into the insurance company Asisa. The group of companies is one of the main beneficiaries of the Council’s health agreement and the emergency ruling investigated by the Seville court.
For the past 20 years, Mr. Navarro has combined his career as a doctor with his political responsibilities in the PP of the Ministry of Health of the Province of Granada. He is the state’s deputy health secretary. Currently, in addition to his organizational positions, he ‘Forced leave’ from his position He worked for the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) and was an emergency physician at the Poniente Hospital in El Ejido (Almeria).
The Andalusian government argued that the new responsibilities on the board were incompatible with any private activity. Carolina España, a spokeswoman for the chief executive, said Navarro: “I will stop working in the private realm.” It insisted that his leave would ensure compliance with the incompatibility regime and asked him to “not cover his eyes”. “He has worn the white coat in public health and will wear it again. At the end of his political term, he will return to his role in the SAS,” the finance minister and spokesperson said after a meeting of the government council.
However, left-wing opposition parties have harshly criticized his appointment, accusing the executive of facilitating a “revolving door” between the Ministry of Health and private healthcare. The PSOE and the Por Andalusian parliamentary group said that the center in which Mr. Navarro is in charge of medical management functions is One of the beneficiaries of the agreement signed by Miguel Ángel Guzmanformer Deputy Minister of Health and current defendant in a case investigating allegations of fraud in emergency contracts with private clinics.
The Ministry of Health’s reshuffle comes amid a crisis over uncovered failures in its breast cancer early detection programme. More than 2,300 women experienced delays in communicating their mammogram results. Some of them are up to 2 yearsAs a result, the Andalusian public prosecutor’s office launched an investigation. Most of the errors were concentrated in Seville’s Virgen del Rocio hospital, which accounts for 90% of cases.
Since the scandal broke, the Andalusian government has unleashed a chain reaction of layoffs. beginning Minister of Health resignedRocío Hernández was replaced by Antonio Sanz, an influential member of President Moreno’s executive branch. they were subsequently removed from their positions Health Representative of SevilleManuel Molina – former manager of Virgen del Rocio Hospital – Deputy Counselor María Luisa del Moral, several hospital personnel, and a senior SAS official.
Sanz defended the move as part of a “new phase with a new team.” “Recovering trust in health management”. However, the criticism does not stop. Opposition parties believe that Navarro’s appointment as del Moral’s successor will “deepen the confusion between public and private healthcare,” and are demanding an explanation of the appointment criteria.
President Juanma Moreno has sought to limit the political damage from the crisis, calling for investment in health care and accusing the opposition of “spreading false rumors” about the alleged privatization of Andalusia’s system. At the PP-A’s regional conference over the weekend, Moreno appealed to armed groups to “defend government health care without complications.”
The ministry claims that the health budget is steadily increasing and that Andalusia today has more than 10,000 new job openings and “more personnel than ever before”, including 705 specialists specializing in the early detection of cancer. Nevertheless, mobilization of citizens The deteriorating public perception of the health system is putting Andalusia’s administration under maximum pressure as it sets its sights on local elections scheduled for spring 2026.
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