Lanzarote registers its worst surgical waiting list figure since 2019

A total of 1,866 people are awaiting the call from the Hospital Doctor José Molina Orosa to be surgically operated on by the public health system in Lanzarote.

The number of patients waiting for an operation has grown by 17.5% compared to the data from June 2025 and stands at the worst figure since 2019, when 1,938 people were waiting for an operation. This is according to the latest data published by the Canary Islands Health Service, with figures from June 2026.

Half of the patients enter the operating room a month and a half (48 days) after being referred for their operation. Most of the interventions are performed in less than six months (with 1,791 people waiting), but some also have to wait more than half a year (with 75 people in this situation).

This delay and the backlog in waiting lists are not evenly distributed across all medical specialties. For example, in General and Digestive Surgery, the specialty with the most patients awaiting an operation, the average delay is 48 days, but the 463 patients who were pending contact had been waiting less than six months.

In contrast, the second specialty with the highest surgical demand is Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery. In this case, the average wait is three months (94.75 days). In this specialty, while 357 have been waiting less than six months, 71 have already surpassed the half-year mark waiting for an operation.

In the rest of the specialties, Ophthalmology is the third with the most patients on the surgical waiting list (272), with an average wait of 40 days; followed by Urology, with 242 patients waiting and an average delay of two and a half months (73 days), Angiology and Vascular Surgery, with 205 patients and an average of 41 days; Otorhinolaryngology, with 168 patients and 45 days of delay. At the end of the queue are the specialties of Gynecology, with 87 patients and 40 days of delay; as well as Dermatology, with one patient waiting and 34 days of waiting.