Patients arriving at the Emergency Department of the Eivissa hospital Can Misses are fully facing the shortage of healthcare professionals, a situation that public healthcare in the Islands has been dragging on and for which no solution is found. The Pitiusan health center lacks doctors with the MIR (a training system that doctors undertake in Spain after finishing their degree to specialize), a situation that does not violate legality, but which does hinder the daily functioning of the center, as socialist deputy Irantzu Fernández denounced this Tuesday in the Parliament session. The usual practice is for professionals attending Emergencies to have completed the MIR and to have a specialization in family medicine – in 2030, the first cohort of doctors specializing in Emergencies will graduate.

The number of cases treated in the Can Misses Hospital Emergency Department in the first eight months of the year increased by 6%, from 39,990 between January and August 2024 to 42,397 during the same period this year. The average case resolution time decreased by 37.5% during this same period, to 4.8 hours.

In 2024, 1,020 involuntary psychiatric admissions were recorded in the Balearic Islands, more than half of which (575) took place at Son Espases. Following behind were Son Llàtzer, with 190; Manacor Hospital, with 118; Inca Hospital, with 106; Mateu Orfila Hospital, with 19; and Can Misses, which had 12 such admissions. According to the health experts consulted, this figure has remained stable over the years. What has worsened is the severity of the problems. Most admissions are for psychosis. "Now there are many psychotic episodes because many people are using synthetic drugs. The severity of what we see has increased significantly. The inpatient units, the mental health units... are all full," says Carme Canet, the Psychiatric Nursing Supervisor at Son Llàtzer Hospital.