A patient from Málaga, who prefers to keep her full name private but identifies as Mari Carmen P. H., has become the voice for hundreds of patients facing a critical situation due to prolonged waiting lists in the Neurosurgery specialty. After accelerating her diagnosis through private healthcare, she was placed on the "priority" surgical waiting list at the Regional Hospital last March but still does not know when she will undergo surgery.
The patient expresses her desire for the reality of the situation to be known, not for personal gain, but to highlight the ordeal and uncertainty that patients endure. "It is outrageous that a neurosurgery operation, even a priority one, takes four or five months," she laments, describing the situation as "madness" compared to the official narrative that "everything is fine."
Mari Carmen P. H. emphasizes the exceptional care provided by healthcare professionals but deems the speed of responses "unviable" due to the existing bottleneck in the system. She herself had to resort to private consultations to obtain a swift diagnosis for her condition, a spinal canal stenosis and myelopathy due to cervical instability, which could lead to severe mobility issues and even paralysis.
The patient reflects on the inequality of being able to access private tests to speed up diagnoses, an option not available to all patients. "I had that financial possibility. But what about those who cannot afford it?" she asks, noting that while she can afford some private consultations, the operation itself is beyond her financial reach.
After obtaining private reports and with an MRI scan conducted through public healthcare, her primary care physician initiated an interconsultation with Neurosurgery and Traumatology. Although she was eventually placed on the waiting list, she estimates that for her condition, being a "priority" case, the wait in Neurosurgery is around four to five months, and in spinal Traumatology, approximately one year, deeming both figures "outrageous and shameful."
A social worker by profession and on sick leave since last August, Mari Carmen P. H. fears that the delay in surgery will worsen her condition, as the operation aims to prevent the pathology from progressing, not to recover lost function. She has filed two complaints and has decided to go to the press to speak out for the hundreds of patients who, like her, are waiting desperately.
