Ron Howells
DELAYS in treatments for patients in the Malaga public health system are likely to continue for months due to a backlog of cases caused by the COVID pandemic.
A spokesperson for Málaga Accessible, an association that brings together more than 70 patient organisations, has demanded: “a crash plan” to fix the problem that would involve everything from primary to hospital care. Alfredo de Pablos warned that the system is a chain in which each link is essential for the smooth running of the operation as a whole.
“There is a clear worsening of the waiting lists. There are desperate patients and it will take months to return to the situation before the pandemic, ” he said.
According to statistics issued by the regional government’s Ministry of Health in 2020, The Junta de Andalucía’s 60-day maximum waiting time for patients requesting an initial consultation with a hospital specialist is being exceeded across the vast majority of health centres in the region.
Patricia Navarro, the delegate from the Andalucian Government in Malaga, announced on Wednesday, September 22, that from October, face-to-face appointments in health centres in the province of Malaga would be gradually resumed. While on a visit to the Torre del Mar health centre, Navarro thanked all the health professionals of the Andalucian public system for the effort that they have been making during the pandemic.
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