Spain’s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy appealed for calm
Wednesday after a Madrid nurse contracted the deadly Ebola
virus, promising “transparency” over the scare which has
sparked fierce criticism of national health safeguards.
Rajoy told parliament officials would “provide all the
information possible to the public with total transparency”,
after the nurse became the first person to become infected
with the disease outside of Africa.
“What we have to do right now is be vigilant but keep calm.”
Four other people including the woman’s husband have been
hospitalised for observation since they were considered at risk
of having the disease.
The government has set up a special commission to
coordinate work between Spanish officials and liaise with
European institutions, he said.
The European Commission on Tuesday demanded an
explanation from Spain of how the nurse got infected in a
specialised disease unit.
Rajoy said the top priority was to treat the patient and
secondly to monitor people who had been in contact with her.
Officials would meanwhile “investigate what happened and
why this contagion occurred”, Rajoy added.
The leader of the opposition Socialists, Pedro Sanchez,
questioning Rajoy in parliament, denounced the public
spending cuts in healthcare during the recent years of
economic crisis.
He said the cuts had forced healthcare staff to work in
“extraordinarily difficult circumstances”.
Health workers’ unions on Tuesday complained that staff had
not been adequately trained to treat Ebola patients safely.
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