Dr. Bartolomé Beltrán, a reference for decades in medical dissemination on television, radio and the press, died this Saturday due to kidney failure at the Ruber clinic in Madrid at the age of 74, according to the communication group Atresmedia, where he also He served as director of Prevention and Medical Services, with a message on the social network X. “He was part of this house since its foundation. Our most sincere condolences to family, friends and colleagues,” the text adds.
Specialized in gynecology from the Complutense University of Madrid, he left the practice to delve into radio studios and television sets. He had a great ability to connect with the public and knew how to translate the most convoluted scientific terms into everyday language. At the head of programs dedicated to dissemination, he was part of the Antena 3 Radio team, the launch of the television network of the same name, which went on the air in 1990 along with a handful of veteran journalists such as Manuel Martín Ferrand, Luis Ángel de la Viuda or Luis Herrero. He attended to listeners as if it were a doctor’s office and offered advice to prevent, treat or alleviate the symptoms of diseases or conditions.
Beltrán was considered one of the most media doctors in Spain, thanks to four decades of appearances, either as a guest or directly as a presenter, in different programs on stations such as Cadena Ser, Onda Cero, Antena 3, IB3, Nova or LaSexta, with the famous space on health and quality of life What’s wrong with me, doctor? who directed with my professional colleague Paloma Borregón, with successful audience results. For years I wrote a column in the supplement To your health From the newspaper The reason, but the waves were something special for Beltrán. “In journalism, the radio is your home. If you do television it’s like going on a trip. You enjoy. But when the trip is over there is always the radio waiting for you,” he said.
At the beginning of the nineties, as a prelude to reality television, Antena 3 imported the format In good hands, that revolutionized the way in which health was approached on the television screen. Beltrán put the cameras in the operating rooms to broadcast step by step all types of interventions: from appendicitis to cataract surgery, to a sex change or bone lengthening. He always surrounded himself with the best specialists in each of the subjects and the program became a reference for both researchers and medical students. Furthermore, he knew how to attract the complicity of patients to bring the impact of medical advances closer to the audience. To explain, for example, the revitalizing effects of ophthalmological surgery, he relied on the emotional testimony of the editor and writer José Ortega Spottorno.
Sensitivity and humor
A group of young journalists were part of that team, including Ramón Arangüena. “It was my first job on television,” he recalled this Saturday. One of the broadcasts that had the most impact on the audience was the separation of two conjoined girls. “It reached a 47% audience share and the president of the network, Antonio Asensio, congratulated us,” recalls the reporter. Despite working with material as sensitive as health, neither Beltrán nor the team lost their humor. After the recording of a morbid obesity operation, they were able to go to the most traditional Madrid to taste a portion of tripe. Journalist Mar García still has in her memory the recording of an open-heart intervention: “I had to lean on the wall before starting.” Both account for Beltrán’s enormous ability to forge journalistic teams and his innate generosity. He was in love with his land, Mallorca, and often invited his closest collaborators to a visit to the island.
Although health dissemination was his specialty, in 1993 he was in charge of the alarm clock magazine on Antena 3 Live life, in which the then professor of Metaphysics and today Ombudsman, Ángel Gabilondo, collaborated. That same year he joined Cadena Ser to direct a health and quality of life space. He participated in the program Day by day, directed and presented by Iñaki Gabilondo, and advised the station on medical issues, as he had been doing at Antena 3 Radio since its founding in 1982. In addition, he published more than 20 books and received several awards, both for his work as a doctor as well as for his contribution in the field of communication: among others, the Gold Medal of the Spanish Red Cross; a Waves; the World Health Organization Award for work in the cardiovascular sector, and two Golden Antennas of Communication.
We regret the death of our colleague Bartolomé Beltrán. Reference for decades in medical dissemination on TV, radio and press.
It was part of this house since its foundation. Our most sincere condolences to family, friends and colleagues. RIP, doctor pic.twitter.com/yhyQ4feHg7
— Atresmedia Comunicación (@atresmediacom) February 17, 2024
Born in Campanet (Mallorca) in 1949, Beltrán had a degree in Medicine from the University of Valladolid. He was also a member of the Spanish Gynecological Society and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Since 2020, he was in charge of his program on Onda Cero, In good hands (Sundays, from 4:00 to 6:00), in which he addressed the most important current health issues with specialists. In her last program, in mid-January, she treated epilepsy with the doctor from the Complex Epilepsy Unit of the San Rafael University Hospital in Madrid, Dr. Jaime Parra.
For three years, between 1995 and 1998, he was president of the Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, after a company he owned acquired more than 84% of the shares. Under his leadership, Mallorca managed to climb to the First Division and finish a league in fifth place, in addition to reaching the final of the Copa del Rey. “Tomeu, thank you for making our Mallorca bigger. Rest in peace,” the entity said goodbye to him on the social network He joins the pain of the club and its fans. Rest in peace,” added the football association.