By madmin 
The Spanish Parliament has asked the central authorities to partner with the government of the Canary Islands in providing medical care to the migrants that arrive on the archipelago’s beaches. This happens because the self-governing Canary Islands have been experiencing a constant surge in the number of migrants, and as a result, the Canarian healthcare system has been heavily stretched. The initiative, brought forward by the Mixed Parliamentary Group at the behest of the Coalición Canaria, highlights the critical need for assistance in the management of the healthcare services demanded by new migrants.
For more than a year now, the Canary Islands have been faced with a serious and continuous increase in migratory flows throughout the island. It’s a situation that the Canarian health system hasn’t been able to rest against because they have been offering their professionals, infrastructure, and material resources for humanitarian and assistance aid to migrants. The Government of the Canary Islands has been the one who has carried the whole weight of this healthcare campaign, which has been realized based on the budget of the Canarian Health Service.
Between January and October 2014, the Canary Islands spent over 22 million euros only for the health care and social services of migrants. This financial burden has been the cause of the regional government’s incessant communication with the Ministry of Health, as the latter was prompted to provide the necessary reinforcements according to the agreement with the Red Cross for health care due to the deficit in funds. The Canary Islands Health Service has formulated a protocol for health care that will be provided to the arrival of a multitude of migrants, which consists of assistance brought to coastal arrivals, reception centers, and transfers/specialized hospital care.
The motion points out that even though the Canadian government is still engaged in the hard work of giving migrants decent care, no one can argue that the autonomous community isn’t in dire need of urgent State support. This aid is very important as it will help the social, health, and economic sectors to be shared, especially in the case of the arrival of migrant boats to the islands. The Congress requests that the Government of Spain arrange with the Canary Islands special funding for healthcare provided to migrants.
This call for cooperation comes at a time when the Canary Islands are facing major trials of their capability to cope with the afflux of migrants. The regional government’s effort to supply the full range of care, such as including immigrant children in part of the Pediatric Health Service’s adoption campaign, is indicative of its commitment to humanitarian aid. Still, the financial and logistics burdens have become increasingly unsustainable without support from the federal government.
The approval of this motion by the plenary session of Congress on February 12 is a major stride in the direction of acknowledging the fact that the Canary Islands are the southern border of Spain and, hence, are the ones that face the most unduplicated problems. It also points to the importance of coordinated action on the part of regional and national governments in dealing with the multifaceted area of migration and healthcare. The vote for the motion is indicative of a raised consciousness about the too much workload for border areas in controlling migration streams
It is worth mentioning that the far-right party Vox was the only one that was against the motion, and it proposed an amendment to declare the immigration crisis and the perceived terrorist threats as the situations of National Security’s area of activity. The amendment that addressed health care provision, unlike the previous one, which was focused on security concerns, was not passed, and these led to the prioritization of humanitarian aid and the securitization of migration issues to be the majority in Congress, respectively.
The appeal of the Central Government to the Canary Islands to jointly operate migrant healthcare is a crucial stage in Spain’s migration management strategy. The proposal is a sign of the implementation by the government of the need for shared responsibility and resources in addressing the humanitarian aspects of migration. The adoption of the principle of shared responsibility and joint resources is among the measures which have been put forward by the European Union for dealing with migration, which is a burning issue in all its member states. Consequently, Spain’s assertion that the Canary Islands should continue to be a hub for the smooth operation of the Corridor has been followed by the agreement to help in no small measure successfully the situation of the people being stranded on their way to Campamento and ELADA.
The Spanish government is still grappling with these issues at present, the congressional resolution on this matter may turned to be a precedent as regards the border regions on the cooperation between the two levels of government on the migration-related issues. Their active community policing project, where police officers, community service officers, and the community work together to identify, address, and solve community issues, is a good initiative. The fact that there are immigrants should not be used to label them as criminals in the area. In this manner, the aim of the enablers is not to provoke the authorities but to guide newcomers in the reception center to apply for asylum or return to their place of origin.