The Ministry of the Interior has accumulated a debt of 76.3 million euros with the autonomous communities for healthcare provided to prisoners since 2018. So far, 121.4 million have been paid, but the shortfall continues to grow. Madrid tops the list with 27.2 million pending, followed by Andalusia (14.8) and the Balearic Islands (7.2). Aragon, the Canary Islands, Castile and León, and Galicia are also claiming significant amounts.
A billing system in need of technical review 💻
The current model of transfers between the Interior Ministry and the regional health departments suffers from interoperability failures. The databases of penitentiary centers do not synchronize in real-time with the autonomous health systems, causing delays in invoice validation. A viable technical solution would involve implementing a middleware based on HL7 FHIR standards to unify inmate patient records and automate payments. However, the lack of a common API between administrations hinders development.
Prisoners with health, Treasury with a headache 🤕
It seems the Ministry of the Interior confuses debt with a visitation schedule: it promises to pay but never shows up. Meanwhile, regional doctors treat inmates with the same professionalism as if they were civil servants, only getting paid in drips. If prison healthcare were a series, its title would be The 76 Million Patient: Endless Season. At least prisoners have a bed and food guaranteed; the communities only have pending invoices.