It's not often that the death of an animal causes outrage and consternation across Spain, the country which invented bullfighting. But this week that was exactly what happened after it was announced that Excalibur, the dog belonging to a Madrid nurse who had become infected by Ebola, would be put to sleep as a precaution.
An online petition to save the dog gathered more than 300,000 backers and on Wednesday, animal rights campaigners scuffled with police who entered the nurse’s flat to take the animal away.
While it was not known whether Excalibur had in fact been carrying the virus, the episode reflected how the presence of Ebola in a developed country can raise tensions and expose the authorities’ difficulty in managing a foreseeable but unpredictable crisis.
The nurse, Teresa Romero, was admitted to hospital on Monday after apparently contracting the disease while treating an infected Catholic missionary who was repatriated from west Africa and died in Madrid, in late September.
Ordinary Spaniards and the government alike seemed mystified as to how Romero had become infected, when she had barely had contact with the missionary. A possible answer came midweek when she told a doctor treating her that she remembered touching her face with a glove while removing her safety suit after visiting the man’s room.
This led the politician responsible for the Madrid region’s healthcare, Francisco Rodríguez, to suggest Romero “could have been lying” when initially explaining her condition to doctors. With Romero’s life hanging in the balance, his comments were widely censured.
Failure to reassure
The conservative central government has also been criticised, having insisted that the safety procedures in place for healthcare staff were sufficient, even though many medical workers said they lacked training to deal with Ebola. An appearance before the press by health minister
Ana Mato
on Monday, shortly after the nurse’s admittance to hospital, had offered little concrete information and failed to reassure Spaniards. “Before the press conference I wasn’t worried, but now I’m terrified,” tweeted one man.
While US president Barack Obama has been outspoken on this issue, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has taken a very different approach, allowing his under-fire minister and local Madrid politicians to be the face of the Ebola crisis.
Healthcare workers in Madrid complain that the authorities’ failure to battle ignorance surrounding Ebola has left them paranoid about their own health and, in some cases, shunned by worried friends and neighbours.
Many observers have blamed spending cuts that Spain, like many EU countries, has introduced to its health system. Other critics have also said that the common policy in recent years of cutting international development budgets now looks painfully short-sighted, given west Africa’s current plight.
According to José Ignacio Torreblanca, of the European Council on Foreign Relations, as the first European country to see an Ebola infection within its borders, Spain should have appealed to the EU for more help, instead of insisting on its own medical prowess. On his blog, he asked himself what kind of nation Spain has looked like as it has wrestled with the medical crisis over the past few days. His answer: “A myopic country, which is disconnected from the outside world and selfish.”
