The request from Lola Martín, a woman whose 86-year-old father is admitted to the Severo Ochoa Hospital in Leganés, has managed to gather 17,000 signatures through a Change.org campaign and convince the Community of Madrid so that all patients admitted to public hospitals in the region can watch the World Cup final match between Spain and Argentina next Sunday for free.
The campaign started on July 4 and in less than 14 days has borne fruit. The Ministry of Health has given in and will broadcast the match for free.
10 euros are paid for three days of television
The campaign requested that no admitted patient should have to pay to watch the match. Lola explains that her family is paying 10 euros every three days so that her father and companions can watch the World Cup matches on the television of the Madrid public hospital center.
“My father is 86 years old, he is a football fanatic, and this World Cup he has had to experience from a hospital bed,” Lola requested in the petition. “It makes me very sad that he cannot celebrate Spain’s goals as he would like. And even more to think that there are people in all these hallways who cannot even follow the World Cup, or whatever each one wants to watch, because they cannot afford it,” she asserts.
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In her opinion, the measure taken by the Community of Madrid is positive, but the Ayuso Government should understand that “this is not just for football, but so that patients who are admitted have their moment of escape.” And she continues: “There are elderly people, people without resources, for whom in many cases the television is a window to forget for a while that they are admitted.”
Therefore, she says, “the measure is great, but it is insufficient.” And she continues: “Madrid should take the example of other communities that have implemented it and do so before the end of 2026.”
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