Many patients on the island of Lanzarote are forced to travel to Gran Canaria for medical reasons. This entails a fairly high economic expense that many families cannot afford despite the aid that the Government of the Canary Islands grants to those who need it. However, these compensations do not cover all the real expenses of a patient and their family when they move to another island, since admission to hospitals can be for weeks or even months.
One of these cases is that of Patricia (fictitious name), who had to travel with her husband from Lanzarote to the Doctor Negrín University Hospital to be operated on for a brain tumor on two occasions. The costs of accommodation, food, plane tickets and travel within the island itself to go to the hospital represent an extra expense that is difficult to meet despite the aid for her.
During the first stay that lasted for ten days, the accommodation cost them 900 euros. To this is added the expense of breakfasts and meals that, according to the woman, "used to be 10 euros for breakfast and 30 for lunch on average." This represents approximately 400 euros more during her stay.
In addition, the expense of public transport and hygiene and food products is also included, so the figure exceeds 1,400 euros by far.
Insufficient compensation
Although the regional government has financial compensation to cover these expenses, this aid only reaches 65 euros per person per day for accommodation and 37 euros for maintenance, also per person per day. In the event that the accommodation was full board, you would not be entitled to this compensation of 37 euros, while if it were half board, the amount in this concept would be just over 14 euros and if it only included breakfast it would be 29 euros.
Regarding the second time that the woman and her husband had to go again for another operation at the Doctor Negrín Hospital for six days, they were able to stay in accommodation of the Red Cross dedicated to this type of situation. "They put me in contact with them at Molina Orosa and their service also includes breakfast and dinner," she says. It also provides a transport service to the airport and they go to the hospital to check the patient's progress.
However, this option is not always available because places are limited, so the economic expense increases sharply when the ailment lasts for weeks or months, which many families cannot cope with. "The help they give you does not compensate because you spend more than you receive and the first time I could afford it but when you go to the doctor several times on another island, you can't," she concludes.