"No real access to the family doctor": protest in Palma over the situation of Primary Care

PalmAbout twenty people gathered this Monday in front of the Sant Catalina health center in an action called by the Association for the Defense of Public Health to defend Primary Care and denounce what they consider a progressive worsening of access to the health system, linked to the collapse of the service, the long wait to be seen and the exhaustion of health professionals.

The concentration was attended by retired doctor and member of the entity, José Manuel Aranda, who acted as spokesperson for the demands. During the event, Aranda recalled the meaning of the recent day dedicated to primary care. “Last Sunday was World Primary Care Day, a day that we consider serves both to commemorate and to claim the situation of the system”.

The entity warns that one of the main problems is the waiting time to access the primary care physician. In this regard, Aranda explained that “In Mallorca, the average delay to get an appointment with the primary care physician exceeds seven days”. As he has denounced, this situation hinders adequate patient follow-up and shifts part of the care pressure to other levels of the system.

They have also emphasized the difficulties in accessing telephone assistance, one of the usual channels of contact with health centers. Aranda has stressed that “the telephone delay is even higher: in many cases, it is not possible to contact the doctor and, if someone has a health problem, they have to wait at least a week”. “There is no real access to the primary care physician”, this reality, he assures, contributes to the saturation of emergency services. The Association insists that this situation is not the responsibility of healthcare professionals. Aranda wanted to emphasize that “teams work in overloaded conditions and with insufficient resources”.

According to the entity, the problem has a structural origin and has been going on for years. Aranda summarized it by saying that “The problem is complex and is due to years of budget cuts”. They warn that investment in primary care continues to be below the levels recommended by international organizations. “The budget for Primary Care does not come close to what the WHO asks for, which is 25% of the total health budget, while in the Balearic Islands it remains around 13%. Little by little, it is initially resolved with the will of the professionals, but in the end people get tired”, Aranda lamented.

Health centers with deficiencies

During the concentration, various deficiencies have also been pointed out in health centers in Mallorca, such as lack of accessibility, underutilized equipment, or lack of staff to launch certain services. These situations, they affirm, reduce the problem-solving capacity of the first level of care and end up increasing the pressure on hospitals and emergency services. In Santa Catalina, for example, they have been asking for an automatic door for a long time. As things stand, if someone in a wheelchair comes, they have to open the door for them.

Finally, the Association for the Defense of Public Health has called for greater transparency in the management of the system. Aranda has requested “the publication of waiting list data from all health centers in order to transparently understand the real situation of the system.” With this action, the entity wants to continue making the situation of primary care visible and demand urgent measures to strengthen it as a fundamental pillar of the public health system.