Last December, many of Guardamar’s residents gathered in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento to protest against the lack of doctors in the health centre. As a solution, on January 11, the mayor of Guardamar, José Luis Sáez, met with the management of the Torrevieja health department and the neighbourhood association group that organised the rally to address the numerous problems made against the municipality’s health centre.
“Firstly, we explained to the health authority management that there was no telephone service, secondly, that patients were waiting for more than a month and a half for appointments to see a doctor, thirdly, the lack of medical personnel and finally, the problem of medical prescriptions that were not being automatically renewed automatically”, explained Encarna, one of the protesters.
“We told them that there was more than a six week wait in order to see a primary care doctor. They told us that there was a general problem with a lack of doctors throughout Spain but that they did have the financial resources to hire more doctors”, she added.
Residents also spoke about the emergency situation at the Torrevieja Hospital. “I went to the A&E on four occasions in a very short time, as my father has been quite poorly and on none of the occasions were there enough doctors or staff,” said Encarna.
She said that the intention of the group is to join the Health Council, a body that monitors the health authority in which patients and associations can participate.
“Right now we are waiting to see if all our demands are met. We see good will on the part of the management, but if they are not resolved, we will continue with our campaign,” she said.
The mayor, who was also present at the meeting, said that the hospital management has responded positively to the demands. And that the health centre has already seen the arrival of an additional doctor with still more to come.
