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HEALTH

Fecal matter found in hospital spaghetti

Health authorities in the northern Spanish region on Navarre have detected fecal matter in hospital spaghetti meals.

Fecal matter found in hospital spaghetti
The catering firm for hospitals in Spain's Navarre region, Mediterránea de Catering, has come under fire for its lack of hygeine. File photo: Benny Mazur/Flickr

Health inspectors said they had found E. Coli bacteria in spaghetti meals prepared for Navarre's hospitals by the private company Mediterránea de Catering.

Inspector Agurtzane Jiménez said the spaghetti didn't present a health risk and there was no need to ring the alarm bells.

The finding is, however, the latest in a long line of problems involving the services of Mediterránea de Catering.

The health inspectors admitted they had discovered 22 such cases since their decision to contract the private firm to provide food to the region's hospitals, reported Diario Córdoba on Thursday.

A review of the company's practices had uncovered "inadequate clothing" among staff, lipstick on cups used for hospital breakfasts, dirty plates, open rubbish bags and yoghurt tubs that had been left out of refrigerators.

Inspectors also stressed the failure of Mediterránea de Catering to properly heat up food.

One plate of cold lasagne tested positive for a listeria species.

The presence of listeria can lead to the illness listeriosis, which has a 20 percent mortality rate.  

The head of Navarre's health services said, however, that a man who had died in the hospital had not been contaminated by the lasagne.

On hearing the details of the investigations, Navarre's left-wing opposition called for Mediterránea de Catering to have its food provision licence withdrawn.  

Last week, a citizen's group presented the Navarre parliament with a petition bearing 23,000 names calling for the company to be stripped of their catering contract.

In March, a 25-year-old Mediterránea de Catering employee required back surgery after he was run over by a 200kg food cart. 

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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