Medical Services

The Spanish Healthcare System has the necessary health professionals, facilities and equipments to offer optimal medical services during Madrid Pride.

Public Health care

Spain has a National Healthcare System (SNS) that is integrated by the Healthcare Ser- vices of the Public Administration and the Regional Governments. The services comprised in the SNS include prevention, diagnosis, therapy, rehabilitation and promotion of health, where services for Public Health, Primary Care, Specialised Care, Emergencies, Pharmacy, orthopaedic prosthesis, dietary products and ambulance services are all included. The SNS offers a universal coverage and is a free service. However, a system of cofinanciation is applied to out-of-hospital pharmaceutical and orthoprosthetic services, as well as for dietary products.

The Region of Madrid has its own Healthcare System which is integrated into the SNS and based on the principles of univer- sality and solidarity, equity of access and provision of services, as well as the comprehensive integration of all of these benefits and services. The Public Health care System of Madrid serves 6.5 million inhabitants of which 3.5 million live in the metropolitan area and provides them with prevention, diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation services as well as promotion and maintenance of health. In Madrid, each year more than 50 million primary care appointments and over 10 million specialist appointments are carried out. Around 500,000 hospital admissions take place, over 400,000 surgical operations are performed and 2.7 million emer- gency consultations are attended.

The Healthcare System of Madrid operates on two levels: Primary Care with more than 420 centres which provide easy access to all the citizens, as the entry gate to the system, and the Specialised Care that operates in 35 hospitals including 22 university hospitals and 33 specialised care centres. As well as the emergency services of the hospitals, 24-hour domestic and outpatient emergency services are also available.

Private Healthcare

On top of the public system, Madrid has an important network of private health facilities. Both public and private healthcare centres are subject to regulations which guarantee the safety and quality of services, as well as regulation of information, public health, training and investigation activities.

Emergency Services

A Municipal Medical Emergency Service (SAMUR) attends emergencies on public roads and complements the public health system of Madrid. It provides prompt and efficient emergency services wherever and whenever needed.

Medical expenses: medical coverage for all

Spain and Madrid offer free healthcare services of excellent quality to all their citizens. All European citizens have free ac- cess to medical assistance, as well as those with nationalities of countries with bilateral agreements with Spain.

Social Security

Public healthcare services are delivered free of cost and emergency assistance is provided without any preconditions. Medicines are free in hospitals, whereas a system of co-financiation applies to out-of-hospital treatments, except for pensioners and other certain groups.

Medical Services for Foreigners

Since 1st June 2004, the European Health Card exists and the holders have the right to receive healthcare services during tem- porary stays in other EU countries, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, taking into account the type of services required and the intended length of stay.

Employees and self-employed persons which are or have been subjected to the legis- lation of one or more Member states, as well as students, officials and stateless persons or refugees that live in one of the Member States, as well as their families, may also profit from this right. For the assistance of citizens from countries outside the EU, Spain has signed international conventions and agreements which provide healthcare assistance to their citizens during visits to Spain and Madrid.

At present, Spain has signed conventions specifying the requirements and conditions

for healthcare assistance in Spain with 20 countries. Those countries are: An- dorra, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Morocco, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Russian Federa- tion, Tunis, Ukraine, United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Number of hospitals and hospital beds

The healthcare system of Madrid provides an extensive, modern hospital network with more than 15,000 beds in 35 hospitals - in- cluding 22 university hospitals - distributed throughout the whole Region. Two new hospitals are presently under construction which means the region will have 37 public hospitals by the end of 2012.

Additionally, the 2011 hospital catalogue lists 44 private hospi- tals and one military hospital (depending from the Ministry of Defence) in Madrid.

A Centre of Sports Medicine belonging to the Region of Madrid was opened in 1998 and is dedicated exclusively to the needs of athletes, carrying out medical attendance, training and investigation tasks.

Emergency services

According to the current health plan of the City and Region of Madrid, all citizens have access to prompt and effective emer- gency assistance.

Resources

In 2007, the Municipality of Madrid created an Integrated Safety and Emergency Coordination Centre (CISEM, according to Spanish initials) which functions as a centre for the co- ordination and follow-up of all safety and emergency services (police, SAMUR-Civil protection, firefighters, traffic police), in order to provide efficient response to major disasters and catastrophes of any kind. The CISEM is also responsible for scheduled coverage of events with large concentration of people, massgatherings, whether these events are sports, politi- cal, social, religious, etc.

Organisation

In Madrid, all emergency requirements are centralised through an Emergency Call Cen- tre with a single telephone number 112. Calls to this number are free of charge and offer access to emergency assistance of any kind, such as police, medical assistance, rescue. The processing of medical emergency calls to Madrid 112 is as follows:

• Within the city of Madrid: calls are transmitted to SUMMA 112 (Servicio de Urgencia Médicas de Madrid – Medical Emergency Services of Madrid) and SAMUR-Civil Protection as responsible receivers and providers of medical emergency assistance. Requirements for home assistance are generally answered by SUMMA 112, meanwhile SAMUR-Civil Protection takes care of incidences on public roads and in public premises, including sport events.
• For the rest of the Region of Madrid, calls are transferred to SUMMA 112 as the responsible receiver and provider of medical emergency services.

The firefighters of Madrid take care of the rescue services. 1,500 firefighters, all public officials, are distributed over 12 fire stations strategically situated throughout the city.