Pablo Gallart, CEO of Ribera Salud, has requested to be removed from managing Torrejón de Ardoz Hospital following the release of audios where he ordered increasing waiting lists to maximize profits. The group has announced a deep audit to verify compliance with ethical and legal standards. The news has triggered immediate reactions from the regional government and political opposition.
The scandal broke on December 3, 2025, when EL PAÍS revealed audios from a September 25 meeting where Pablo Gallart, CEO of Ribera Salud, instructed about 20 executives at Torrejón Hospital to reverse prior efforts to reduce waiting lists. In the recordings, Gallart stated: “In Torrejón in 2022 and 2023 we decided as an organization to make an effort to lower the waiting list. The only thing I ask is: let's go back the way we came.” He explained that the company must select interventions to achieve an EBITDA of four or five million, highlighting the “direct elasticity” between waiting lists and financial results, and that the organization is “capable of determining the activity” it can provide.
In response, Ribera Salud issued a statement that night announcing that Gallart is stepping aside from his responsibilities at the hospital while a “deep audit” is conducted to ensure “no breach of quality standards in patient care, professional ethics, or the law has occurred.” The group reaffirmed that its “absolute priority,” along with that of shareholder Vivalto Santé, is patients, maintaining commitment to the public health system after 26 years of history.
The Madrid region's Health Department, under Isabel Díaz Ayuso, urgently summoned the hospital's management and pledged to take measures, though no contractual breaches have been detected to date. They will request a new meeting with the company's top executive. From the opposition, President Pedro Sánchez criticized the PP model on X: “This is the PP model: turning health into a business and illness into an opportunity to get rich.” Minister Mónica García accused Ayuso of putting “money above lives,” and Más Madrid is preparing legal actions. The PSOE-M, via Óscar López, will study judicial options and demand the appearance of Health Counselor Fátima Matute in the Assembly, calling it an “absolute shame.”