The Ararteko (Basque Ombudsperson), Manuel Lezertua, has received numerous complaints and consultations regarding the COVID-19 crisis. Both by email (arartekoa@ararteko.eus) and over the telephone (945 135 118), the public has raised various issues involving, the situations they are suffering from in the present situation, the action the Basque public administration has taken vis-à-vis the coronavirus pandemic, and the reach of the measures adopted in the application of the State of Alarm.
 
The following provides an account of some of the Ararteko’s interventions.
 
 
Health
 
From the very time the State of Alarm was declared to manage the health crisis triggered by COVID-19, the Ararteko has shared the public’s concern about the way in which the Basque health system has tackled it.  
 
The problem of health professionals’ lack of equipment and the lack of diagnostic tests were the issues most often raised by those turning to this institution since the State of Alarm was declared. While the Ararteko is aware of statements made by persons in positions of public responsibility insisting on the roll-out of all sorts of initiatives to solve both of these problems, it deemed it necessary to take an interest in the Basque health administration’s expectations regarding both of these issues. 
 
Another issue raised by some health professionals and their family members was concern about the risk involved in sharing living quarters. This problem appears to have been properly tackled by offering accommodation so that the health professionals who so desire can refrain from going to their homes.
 
The Ararteko also has made the situation that those suffering from grave pathologies other than COVID-19 known to the Osakidetza (Basque Regional health body). Due to the measures adopted to confront the pandemic, the continuation of treatment for these patients is at risk.
 
 
The Elderly and Dependent Persons
 
The elderly and dependent persons have always been priority groups for the Ararteko. This holds even more true with the advent of the health crisis we are currently immersed in as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which is hitting these groups so hard.
Of all of them, those residing in nursing homes, the vast majority of whom fall under recognised degrees of dependency II and III, are, in all likelihood, the most vulnerable. In line with this level of risk, those responsible for managing these residential services have been put in a position of having to establish severe levels of confinement for their residents isolating them in their rooms and restricting visits other than from persons professionally related to the centres. Despite the extraordinary measures adopted, it proved impossible to prevent COVID-19 from considerably affecting these nursing homes and assistance centres analogously to how this segment of the population has been affected in general.
 
In light of this, the Ararteko has attempted to provide ongoing monitoring of the situation in these resources in order to ascertain the measures taken to facilitate the residents’ communication with their family members and also the protocols followed to inform family members of the specific situation of those affected by the coronavirus. It also had taken an interest in coronavirus testing among both residents and personnel in these residences and the isolation measures implemented for those infected. 
 
Certain persons have expressed indignation to the Ararteko because of the imposition of forcibly transferring their mothers and the rest of the residents to another nursing home in a different town, a decision taken in a matter of a few hours. Furthermore, they manifested their angst over not receiving any news about their mothers after the transfer.
 
Aware of the fact that coronavirus-triggered deaths of elderly persons in residences  (...)