The surgical waiting list at the Molina Orosa Hospital increased by 288 patients during the first half of this year, according to figures from the Canarian Health Service. In addition, waiting lists for both medical specialty consultations and complementary tests increased during the same period.
Regarding the waiting list for surgery, as of June 30, 2021, it was made up of 1,524 patients compared to the 1,236 in December 2020, which represents an increase of 23.3%. In this regard, initially the Cabildo Data Center, which had echoed the figures of the Canarian Health Service, had reported that there were 2,016 patients on the waiting list at the end of last year, but it has subsequently been confirmed that this figure was erroneous and corresponded to December 2019. Thus, in reality, in the first half of the year there was an increase in the surgical waiting list.
However, the average waiting time for surgery at the Molina Orosa Hospital was reduced in this period, from 139.95 to 107.80 days.
By specialties, Traumatology and Orthopedic Surgery accumulated the highest number of patients with a total of 563, of which 281 had been waiting for more than six months to be operated on. It was followed by General and Digestive Surgery, with a waiting list of 381 patients, of whom only one had been waiting for more than half a year. In Ophthalmology there were 238 people waiting to be operated on, all of them for less than six months, while in Urology there were 142 patients on the waiting list, of whom only one had been waiting for more than half a year. For Otorhinolaryngology there were 97 people waiting, all of them for less than six months; for Gynecology the waiting list was 53 people, of whom only one had been on it for more than half a year; and for Angiology and Vascular Surgery there were 50 people waiting, all of them for less than six months.
Waiting list for medical specialty consultations
As for the waiting list for consultations in medical specialties, during the first half of 2021 it increased by 197 patients, from 1,314 in December 2020 to 1,511 in June of this year, which represents an increase of 14.99%.
Traumatology and Surgery is also the one with the most patients on the waiting list in this case with 182, followed by Otorhinolaryngology with 179, General and Digestive Surgery with 139, Endocrinology with 125, Dermatology with 124, Angiology and Vascular Surgery with 101, Urology with 97, Rheumatology with 95, Pediatrics with 65, Cardiology with 63 and Allergology with 60.
With less than 50 patients on the waiting list were Rehabilitation with 49, Hematology with 39, Ophthalmology with 36, Digestive with 33, Psychiatry with 31, Pulmonology also with 31, Neurology with 24, Obstetrics (Gynecology) with 21, Internal Medicine with 12 and Nephrology with 5.
Twice as many patients for complementary tests
Finally, the waiting list for complementary tests doubled in number of patients in the first half of this year. As of June 30 of this year, there were 320 people on it, while six months earlier there were 159 patients on the waiting list.
Specifically, at the end of last June there were 165 people waiting for an ultrasound, where there was an average waiting time of 172.02 days; while 54 patients were waiting for an echocardiogram, where the average waiting time was 23.91 days.
In addition, there were 42 people waiting for a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), where the waiting time was 70.98 days; a total of 35 patients were waiting for a CT scan, where the average waiting time was 60.80 days; 19 people were on the waiting list for a mammogram, where the average waiting time was 21.89 days, three people were waiting for an endoscopy, where the average waiting time was 34 days; and two patients were waiting for an ergometry, where the average waiting time was 20 days.
