Townhall and health ministry at loggerheads over complaints.
Just hours after Mojacar townhall denounced a situation of “chaos” at the beachside medical centre, the health ministry hit back saying the claims “are nonsense”.
“The Mojacar health clinic is in a situation of chaos, as there are insufficient staff to cover the needs of both A&E and normal primary care. The number of complaints at the front desk increase daily” said a vitriolic statement from councillor for health Doña Ana María Garcia. “This summer we have only three doctors, instead of the five we have in the winter, as well as two nurses, and within half an hour their diaries become completely booked for the day”.
The local council has issued a formal complaint to the health ministry asking for more staff, and is urging visitors to the health centre to file a complaint if they are unsatisfied with their treatment.
However, just hours after the council went public with their complaint, the health ministry issued a furious rebuttal to the claims saying they were nonsense.
“Mojacar primary care is fully satisfied for the summer months. The town has two primary care units, one in the village and another on the beach, with this one seeing an increase in staff for the summer months under the Andalusian summer health plan. 34 additional doctors are on call in the area, 10 more than last year, distributed across nine coastal health centres in the area”.
The health ministry denied that queues were forming in Mojacar, saying that “it is false that the centre is saturated and that waiting lists are increasing. Both medical centres are functioning as normal and are attending user demands”.
But locals are not convinced. Local resident Doña Maria Luisa Cervantes told CA News that she had attended the beach clinic on Monday and that the situation was “third world in the extreme. I was fortunate enough to jump the queue because my baby was ill, but people were queuing out of the door”.