MÁLAGA Living in Málaga, southern Spain Jirkka Jurvanen the scars are still visible on the hand.
– The therapy dog got into a fight with my dog and I intervened, Jurvanen says about the origin of the scars.
The result was a trip to the doctor and a wound that required stitches.
– First I went to the emergency room and then I got an appointment with my doctor at the health center for the same day.
After the first visit, Jurvanen’s doctor checked the condition of the wound every day for four days. Jurvanen, who has lived in Spain since 1989, praises the country’s public health care.
– The best thing is that I am always treated by the same doctor. Plus, it’s completely free. There are no health center fees here.
In Spanish public health care, each patient is assigned a personal physician. Jurvanen was allowed to choose his own from the list.
– In addition to the doctor, there is usually a nurse there. At the reception, there is also time to change the belongings.
The graphic below shows how much of their GDP Spain and Finland spend on healthcare costs compared to other EU countries.
The family doctor often knows the whole family
Family doctors are the foundation of health care in Spain. That’s how you think Miguel Angel Rodríguez Alcázarwho is the leading family doctor on the Sunshine Coast at the Torremolinos health center.
Rodríguez Alcázar’s interview in the courtyard of the health center is constantly interrupted as he greets patients and asks how they are doing.
He has worked at the Torremolinos health center for 17 years. In that time, you get to know the patients.
– I have patients whom I started treating in their twenties. Now they have children who have also become my patients. I often know almost the whole family, says Rodríguez Alcázar.
The role of family doctors is to represent the patient and ensure that the procedures and medications prescribed by the specialists are suitable for the patients.
– Patients trust me. Therefore, it is also possible to detect early diseases and prevent them.
There is a shortage of doctors in Spain as well
Business delegation made by Eva two years ago according to the report the majority of Finns are mainly dissatisfied with public health care.
In Finland, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health has proposed a system of private doctors as a solution to the public healthcare crisis.
A report published last year states that appointing in-house doctors to patients would improve treatment results.
However, the private medical system requires more doctors to be successful. There is a shortage of them in Finland, especially in health centers.
In Spain, there is especially a shortage of specialists.
The country’s medical association has warned that the shortage of doctors will worsen in the coming years, even though the number of study places for doctors has been increased.
According to the Spanish Medical Association, 70,000–80,000 doctors in the country will retire in the next few years. In the last ten years, almost 20,000 Spanish doctors have gone abroad to work.
Often, leavers are motivated by a better income level. In Spain, the average salary of a health center doctor is around 3,000 euros.
At the end of 2020, doctors’ regular working time earnings in Finland were around 6,725 euros per month.
However, according to Rodríguez Alcázar, the head doctor of the Torremolinos health center, there is no shortage of doctors at his workplace.
– There may be traffic jams in the summer due to the large number of tourists. In general, however, we have enough staff.
According to him, working at a health center interests young doctors.
– The biggest advantage is that the doctor gets to know the patients. It enables good treatment.
Kela’s compensation reform can be seen at Fuengirola’s Finnish clinic
Even in Spain, queues for public health care have grown.
As a result, in recent years, Spaniards have taken out more private health insurance than before.
Jirkka Jurvanen, who has lived in Spain for most of his life, has not considered private insurance.
– At least for now, I don’t see any need for it.
However, even more Finns use private health services in Spain. This is done both by Finns living in the country and those traveling there as health tourists.
Their popularity is also increased by the Kela compensation reform that came into effect in Finland in May.
In practice, it means that a person covered by Finnish social security can apply for private treatment in another EU country and receive treatment higher compensation from Kela than before.
The effects of the reform can already be seen at the Costa clinic located in Los Bolices, known as Fuengirola’s Finnish district.
– People come here more and more to treat chronic diseases, says the clinic manager Axel Wiklund.
They emphasize the most common national diseases of Finns.
– There are a lot of receptions related to cardiovascular diseases. Various receptions related to diseases of the musculoskeletal system and diabetes, prostate and thyroid diseases are also common.
Today, several healthcare companies offering services in Finnish operate on the Spanish Sunshine Coast.
According to Wiklund, the majority of the clinic’s patients are Finns living on the Sunshine Coast during the winter season, who are covered by Finnish social security.
– Patients are now more easily able to treat illnesses that are not covered by travel insurance privately.
What do you think of the private practice model in public healthcare? You can discuss the topic until Friday 17.11. until 11 p.m.