Moving to Spain part 6 - Medical Matters
Medical Facilities
There are more medical facilities now available especially in the area surrounding Torrevieja with a new National Health Hospital and a private one on the edge of the town. There is another National Health Hospital in Orihuela which is useful if you are living more inland.
At Cabo Roig there is a 24 hour 7 days a week medical centre and there are a number of private doctors who anyone can register with or just use as and when needed. They all have different rates and schemes so you will need to see which one suits you best if you want a private doctor. If you do not pay into the Spanish national health system and you are not of retirement age then you will not be entitled to national health services.
If you do not intend working and paying into the system and you are not retired then you should look into private medical insurance which again is advertised in all the local papers with different companies offering different schemes at various rates.
There are also plenty of private practioners in Dentistry and other specialist medical services.
Chemist (Farmacia)
There are many Farmacias in and around the towns and quite often they can prescribe drugs and treatments themselves for many routine illnesses and injuries. Many of the drugs that you can only obtain with a prescription in the UK can be purchased over the counter in Spain. Depending on the medication you may find it very much cheaper than in the UK or in some cases more expensive.
If you are in the system and obtain a prescription from the medical centre you will normally pay a reduced price for the medication.
Burial Insurance
When someone dies in Spain things actually move quite quickly. It’s ironic really that the only time you get to witness anything moving at speed is when you die.
Basically when someone dies, you will need to make a number of telephone calls which include the doctor, the police, the ambulance and the undertaker. If you do not speak Spanish then you almost certainly have to make a fifth call to a translator.
Add to this the requirement for the body to be buried within 24 hours and this becomes a very stressful experience at a very emotional time.
Undertakers also want payment up front and are not always willing to wait for a traditional insurance payment at a later date.
You should consider some of the funeral plans that you will see promoted here in Spain as they will normally be able to offer a service where you just make the one call and they will take care of the rest and can defer the burial for up to 4 days which will give relatives time to make travel arrangements.
