Balearic health waiting lists grow as private care takes more

Mallorca and the rest of Spain’s Balearic Islands face growing health waiting lists: a public healthcare group wants more funding and an end to outsourcing treatment to private providers. The Association for the Defence of Public Healthcare in the Balearic Islands put its demands to representatives of PSIB, MÉS per Mallorca, Sumar, Esquerra Unida and Podemos on Friday. It also called for stronger primary care and structural and management changes to tackle the waits.

The group says a high and rising share of the public health budget pays for treatment through private providers and contracts. It says information about where much of that money goes is unclear or incomplete. Health spending per person in the Balearics is lower than in other Spanish regions, it says, while health investment as a share of GDP is very low.

The group wants full information on waiting lists and the move towards private provision. It says public healthcare needs deeper change to protect it from pressure to privatise.

Topics: Health

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com