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Tourist patient numbers rising at Son Dureta Hospital
While most folks come to Mallorca to relax and enjoy a holiday, it seems that more and more tourists are using the medical services on the island as part of their holiday. With the arrival of the summer season, Son Dureta Hospital always sees a rise in patient numbers due to the number of visitors on the island. They usually treat accidental injuries, generally from water sports or road accidents, viral infections, intoxications, food poising and illegal substance abuse (cocaine and ecstasy being the most prevalent).
However, this year records have shown that there is an increase in patient numbers requiring more complicated treatments, such as chemotherapy or dialysis. It is thought that some of these patients are visiting relatives on the island and use the medical facilities whilst here. Others may be unable to obtain this type of treatment in their home country. Son Dureta has also noticed that more people are opting to use the hospital over a local GP. This has major knock-on effects as the average wait time over the peak season is around 5 hours.
While the medical team do their best to attend to patient needs, the hospital which was built back in the sixties, was not originally designed for this type of general use service. The medical team that work in the emergency department treat on average 400 cases each day.
The building of the new Espasa Hospital will bring relief to the busy hospital as it will be three times the size of Son Dureta and patients will be able to enjoy increased comfort and privacy allowing better quality of service. Cases will be prioritised with those more serious being attended to first.
