Mums in La Herradura are far from happy with the paediatric coverage provided in the village at the Centro de Salud.

The problem is that appointments are only available three days a week, and it’s been that way for about a year: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Yet even this paltry service is reduced if it a bankholiday falls on one of these three days or, indeed, if the paediatrician is taking his vacations, as there is nobody to replace him.

The result is that mothers have to travel to Almuñécar or further afield to get an appointment for their child, or turn to the private health system.

As you can imagine, parents feel neglected, citing instances where GPs misdiagnosed issues (like fungal infection instead of diaper rash) which is why they want specialised paediatric care.

So, what does the Junta have to say about this? Well, it has confirmed that there is a shortage; the doctor who provides the service operates on a reduced hour basis and the Servicio Andaluz de Salud has nobody else.

As for the Mayor, who is from the same political party as the one that runs the Regional Government, he agrees that the coverage is insufficient but claims there is a shortage of paediatricians owing to “a lack of attractive contracts,” which can be translated into a work contract that is so bad that they prefer to seek positions in other areas of Spain or even abroad.

As a consequence, of all these parents have formed a platform to coordinate written complaints and plan public protests, if the situation doesn’t improve. 

Of course, the political opposition parties in the Town Council; namely the PSOE (socialists) propose a daily service, which was rejected by the governing party, (which has an absolute majority), saying that the socialists were only interested in claiming political Smarty points. The Mayor did, however, hurriedly point out that he backs the mothers in their quest for better medical coverage for their children.

(News: Herradura, Costa Tropical, Granada, Andalucia)

Keywords: Paediatric Service, Complaints, Insufficient, Mayor, Socialists, Junta de Andalucia, SAS

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