Half of Ceuta and Melilla must travel for medical care

The lack of healthcare resources forces almost half of the population of Ceuta and Melilla to move to the Peninsula to receive treatment, which has a high impact emotional and personal in patients.

The waiting lists are the main access barrier to the public health system of Ceuta and Melilla. This is how a vast majority of its population identifies it. This perception translates into real and persistent difficulties in accessing health services.

Added to this are the difficulty getting appointments (for 65% of Ceuta residents and 79% of Melilla residents), both in person and online; the frequent changes of assigned doctor (44% and 49%, respectively), and the difficulty in communicating with healthcare personnel (44% and 45%, respectively), configuring a scenario of structural blockage of the system.

Furthermore, the wait to receive specialized care is confirmed as the aspect most punished by citizens. Almost half of users rate the delay time to see a specialist as “totally inappropriate” (47% in Ceuta and 42% in Melilla), a temporary barrier that makes this service practically inaccessible for a significant part of citizens.

The difficulties also extend to other key services in the care process. Diagnostic tests register negative evaluations by 37% of citizens in Ceuta and 40% in Melilla, while surgical interventions present levels of dissatisfaction of 26% in Ceuta and 24% in Melilla.

High emotional cost

These forced transfers have a high personal, family and emotional impact. The director of Public Opinion of Ipsos, Silvia Bravohighlighted it in Servimedia: “66% in Ceuta and 60% in Melilla affirm that it has seriously affected their daily lives.”

This shows the human and social cost of not receiving the desired health care within one’s own residence environment. A man who was interviewed on the street summarized the situation: “What I would look for would be a way to fix the problems, reduce the waiting lists, increase the number of specialists and resolve the oncological issue so that people do not have to travel abroad to receive treatment.”

Private healthcare

The data also reflects the growing use of private healthcare as an alternative means of accessing healthcare. Bravo commented that “45% in Ceuta and 30% in Melilla have private medical insurance as an alternative way to access healthcare.” Therefore it is concluded that Public health is not capable of absorbing the demand for care in suitable conditions.

The study on the ‘Perception of public health in Ceuta and Melilla’ has been carried out by Ipsos using CATI methodology (by telephone), with a sample of 400 representative interviews of the population over 18 years of age residing in both places.