Enrique Ruiz Escudero, Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid, discusses his strategy to maintain Madrid's spot as having Spain’s leading healthcare system, the creation of the bio-region --‘Biomad’, and the city’s adoption of innovative telemedicine practices.
You took the reins of the Ministry of Health of the Community of Madrid (Madrid MoH) in 2017, almost a year ago. What has been your mission and what have been the most significant actions taken in the past year?
Taking the reins of the Madrid MoH has been both a challenge and an opportunity. Here in Madrid, we have the best quality healthcare in the country as well as in Europe, according to our data.
Madrid has 6.5 million citizens and we have a network of 34 hospitals, 430 health centres and 71,000 staff, including 16,000 doctors. Managing and maintaining such a large network is obviously a challenge. We are the region with the highest life expectancy in Europe at 85.2 years and this forces us to stay on our toes, always innovating, and making sure that we maintain the best management possible.
We are the region with the highest life expectancy in Europe at 85.2 years
