UGT calls out shortage of specialists at Fuerteventura General Hospital

The General Union of Workers (UGT), through its general secretary in Fuerteventura, denounces the persistent lack of specialists in the Digestive service at the General Hospital of Fuerteventura. Specialists are also missing in Rehabilitation and Rheumatology, a situation that, it emphasizes, “evidences a lack of resources and organization that is leading to an unacceptable abandonment of care.”

María Auxiliadora Pérez, general secretary of UGT Fuerteventura, reports that the Digestive service at Hospital General Virgen de la Peña has been without a specialist providing stable care since last December and warns that

“there are patients with positive colon‑cancer screening results who have not been evaluated.”

In an interview with La Voz de Fuerteventura, Pérez explains that professionals from Gran Canaria travel to the island to attend patients, but

“it is clearly insufficient to meet the demand” and they are limited to performing only preferential procedures.

She adds that waiting lists have been building since February 2025 in the colon‑cancer screening program. Patients with positive results remain unevaluated, which she says

“poses a serious risk to their health and a clear break in the continuity of care that a regional hospital must guarantee.”

In the event of a digestive emergency, Pérez stresses that

“the situation is especially alarming, as the lack of specialists compromises the appropriate and immediate care that these pathologies require.”

She finds it particularly concerning that the screening program continues to operate

“without capacity to evaluate and treat the obtained results, which empties the preventive program of its content.”

Two years of waiting in Rehabilitation

Pérez also criticises the Rehabilitation area, where she claims

“patients are being scheduled with delays of up to two years.”

Although specialists from Gran Canaria are dispatched, the coverage remains insufficient, highlighting a structural rather than a punctual problem that undermines the overall quality of care a regional hospital should guarantee.

She reminds readers that the General Hospital of Fuerteventura is a regional reference centre for the island’s population, and therefore

“has the obligation to guarantee a portfolio of basic and specialized services that ensure continuous, accessible, and resolutive health care.”

This responsibility does not diminish citizens’ rights; instead, it requires the hospital to meet essential health needs for all.

“Why must patients pay for external health services when the Canary Health Service is not guaranteeing the care that a regional hospital should provide?”

UGT Fuerteventura demands an immediate response and real solutions to the situation.

“The island’s citizens cannot keep waiting while an essential service like public health deteriorates. Urgent measures are essential to guarantee dignified, continuous, and quality health care for the entire population.”