The CEOE Foundation, CEIM, Siemens Gamesa and Adif visit the screening centre in Puerta de Atocha one year into the pandemic

This screening centre will remain open until March 22 as part of the 'Plan Sumamos. Health + Economy', a project deployed in Madrid as a result of the protocol signed between the CEOE Foundation, CEIM and the Community of Madrid, to broaden the Administration's efforts to contain the pandemic with the help of the business community.

The screening point at Puerta de Atocha station, where nearly 2,000 COVID-19 tests have already been carried out, is supported by Siemens Gamesa and Adif, as is the similar one located at Chamartín Clara Campoamor station. Monday’s event was attended by the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez; the president of CEIM, Miguel Garrido; the president of Adif, Isabel Pardo de Vera; and the director of Social Commitment at Siemens Gamesa, María Cortina.

On Monday, representatives of the CEOE Foundation, the Madrid Business Confederation (CEIM), Siemens Gamesa and Adif visited the COVID-19 screening test centre located at Puerta de Atocha station, where almost 2,000 tests have already been carried out since it went into operation on February 22nd.

The visit took place on the first anniversary of the state of alert adopted by the government to combat the pandemic.

The event was attended by the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez; the president of CEIM, Miguel Garrido; the director of Social Commitment at Siemens Gamesa, María Cortina; and the president of Adif, Isabel Pardo de Vera.

The screening centre located in Puerta de Atocha has been made possible within the framework of the ‘Sumamos. Health + Economy Plan’, promoted by the CEOE Foundation which, in Madrid, has been deployed thanks to the protocol signed with CEIM and the Community of Madrid.

The goal of the ‘Sumamos Plan’ is to use all the possible resources from the business community to extend the measures that the Administration is implementing to mitigate the cases and effects of the pandemic, from screening to, when necessary, vaccinations.

This temporary screening point at Puerta de Atocha, as well as a similar one at Chamartín Clara Campoamor station, is sponsored by Siemens Gamesa, a company that has provided all the resources needed to hire health and administration staff. 

In addition, Adif also joined the project by offering its premises to the CEOE Foundation, free of charge, for conducting tests through its ‘Estación Abierta’ programme.

The Puerta de Atocha screening centre will be operational until March 22nd, while the Chamartín Clara Campoamor centre closes its doors on March 15th.

The Sumamos Plan was launched in the Community of Madrid last December. In addition to the screening centres in train stations, it has set up further testing points at Mercamadrid, Industrial Park “Las Mercedes” and a DKV centre for testing Madrid’s taxi drivers.

In addition, in January, this initiative was also presented in Castilla y León, which already has seven screening centres up and running, while the autonomous regions of Asturias and the Valencian Community joined the Sumamos Plan last week.

After visiting the screening centre, the president of the CEOE Foundation, Fátima Báñez, called for reaching “alliances for health and alliances for employment” such as this one, and stressed that “preventing the spread of the pandemic and saying stop to COVID-19 is the first step in the fight against the virus”.

“We are working intensely with the Community of Madrid’s regional government and Spain’s central government to set up vaccination plans in companies and with companies. We are working on turning business hubs with many workers into vaccination sites to reinforce the efforts of the public administrations and the public health system. We will also help with vaccinations in temporary facilities that will be set up, as well as at the mutual insurance companies”, added Fátima Báñez.

María Cortina, Siemens Gamesa’s Director of Social Commitment, said that “it is a great pleasure for us to be able to collaborate with this initiative. Siemens Gamesa’s social strategy consists of supporting the local communities in those countries in which we have a presence, in accordance with their specific needs; in the case of Spain, the aim is to limit the effects of the pandemic as much as possible. Throughout this year we have implemented various actions in this regard and, without a doubt, this one that we are presenting today is one of the ones that I am most proud of”.

The President of CEIM, Miguel Garrido, thanked ADIF and Siemens Gamesa for their collaboration in setting up this temporary screening facility, and insisted that “public-private collaboration is essential to ensure that public administrations, companies and citizens, individually responsible but also working together, are able to contain the spread of the disease until vaccinations are available to everyone and we may continue with the economic activity that is so necessary to save companies and jobs”.

Finally, the President of Adif, Isabel Pardo de Vera, pointed out that “we have been saying for some time that we want to turn stations into hubs full of life, and this is a perfect example of the essential role they play in our lives and of what they can become”.

The ‘Sumamos Plan. Health + Economy’ is already in operation in the autonomous regions of Madrid, Castilla y León, Valencia and Asturias; to date, 67 companies have signed up, of which more than 40 test their employees on a weekly basis.

In addition, within the framework of this Plan, 12 screening facilities have already been opened, in which around 15,000 tests have been carried out.

For further information, please visit www.plansumamos.es