Concerns Raised Over Healthcare Access in North Lanzarote
Yoné Caraballo, MP for Lanzarote and La Graciosa and Secretary of Nueva Canarias-Bloque Canarista (NC-BC), joined forces with Haría’s Health Councillor Marcos Lemes to address what they describe as a “serious neglect of healthcare” in northern Lanzarote. They have voiced strong objections to claims made by Canary Islands Health Minister Esther Monzón, who recently stated that the healthcare reorganisation aims to “bring services closer to the public.”
Caraballo argues the opposite is true. He highlighted that 423 families must travel over 30 kilometres to the health centre in Costa Teguise to access paediatric care. “True accessibility means having paediatricians go to the Centro de Salud in Mala, which has enough capacity, instead of making families travel long distances,” he said.
Haría, with a population of around 6,000, experiences significant year-round tourism and is home to strategic infrastructures, including the Órzola port, which serves many passengers heading to La Graciosa. It also hosts key cultural sites such as the Cueva de los Verdes, Jameos del Agua, and Mirador del Río.
Caraballo pointed out that a family from Órzola faces a 32-kilometre journey for a child’s appointment with a paediatrician in Costa Teguise. “Why should an Órzola family go to another municipality when the Centro de Salud in Mala is underused? It makes no sense from a healthcare or organisational perspective,” he said.
He further criticised the management of health services, noting that while families from the north travel for paediatric care, patients from Arrecife are being sent to the Centro de Salud in Mala for specialist consultations due to overcrowding at the Hospital Universitario Doctor José Molina Orosa. “This isn’t about bringing healthcare closer; it’s about filling the gaps in hospital planning,” he added.
Caraballo, a candidate for the presidency of the Cabildo of Lanzarote for NC-BC, highlighted that an elderly person from Valterra must travel nearly 20 kilometres for a specialist consultation, while a child from Órzola must go to Costa Teguise for paediatric care. “The current organisation of health resources is incoherent,” he stated.
Councillor Lemes noted that he personally raised these concerns over a year ago with the Minister during a meeting at the Canary Islands Parliament. “She promised to consider restoring paediatric services in Mala, but since then, there has been no progress. Residents of the north are still waiting as the government fails to meet its commitments,” he said.
Lemes, along with Caraballo and the former director of the Lanzarote Health Area, previously visited both the Haría clinic and the Centro de Salud in Mala to assess needs. “We highlighted the need to restore paediatric care and enhance healthcare services in the north. However, it has all resulted in unfulfilled promises and inattention,” he remarked.
“Over three and a half years into this term, the north of Lanzarote remains without 24-hour emergency services, a dedicated ambulance, and now without paediatric care for hundreds of families. The people in the north deserve the same services as any other area of the Canary Islands and cannot continue to be overlooked by public healthcare,” concluded Caraballo.
