The waiting list to be seen by a specialist at the Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital recorded its worst data in the last ten years.
According to Lanzarote in Figures 2024, the island of volcanoes had 1,804 people waiting to be seen by a specialist in 2023, while last year closed with 4,048 patients.
This situation represents an increase of 124% from one year to another, being notably the highest figure recorded between 2014 and 2024.
By specialties, the most demanded is traumatology and orthopedic surgery, with 912 patients waiting for their external consultation; the second is rehabilitation (362), followed by allergology (333), gynecology (314) and otolaryngology (306). In sixth place is endocrinology (204), followed by ophthalmology (195), urology (180), cardiology (122). To conclude, to a lesser extent, the island's patients await their appointment with the external consultations of digestive system (78), pediatrics (74), rheumatology (61), hematology (59), angiology and vascular surgery (54), pulmonology (52), internal medicine (49), neurology (49), psychiatry (47) and nephrology (40).
Meanwhile, the surgical waiting list, that is, the one in which patients wait for surgery, recorded the lowest figure of the last decade, with up to 1,307 patients waiting, which implies a decrease of 3% in the last year.
The surgical waiting list of Lanzarote indicates that patients must wait an average of two months, specifically 61.91 days, to be able to have surgery. With data from last December 31, offered by the Ministry of Health, 1,307 people are waiting in the Molina Orosa to have an intervention, although most take less than six months to be able to have it.
Regarding medical tests, the one that requires a longer waiting time is the simple ultrasound. With 343 people on the waiting list, the average delay to have one is nine and a half months. Thus, the second most demanded test requires much less waiting time and is the nuclear magnetic resonance, with 148 people on the waiting list and one month to have it done. In third place, the computed tomography (CT scan) requires an average time of two months and one week and there are 124 people waiting for their turn. To conclude, endoscopies take about 18 days to be performed, with 23 people on the list. Meanwhile, echocardiograms and ergometries have no waiting time.
