Spanish healthcare continues to be the envy of many due to its character universal and free. Although many Spaniards know its failures and the deterioration it has suffered, the public system continues to surprise those visitors who, for one reason or another, need health care during their visit.
This has been the case of Vicora, a Colombian who recently traveled to Spain with his partner and his brother. The three were in Valencia when they performed basic tests on his brother and detected copper in her liver. “We haven’t even been here for 24 hours and the first thing we’re going to see is the hospital,” says Vicora, in a humorous tone.
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The tourists decided to document their experience with a video that they later shared on the TikTok platform, where they accumulated nearly two million views and 82,000 I like.
The three went to the Doctor Pesset University Hospital, located in Valencia, as can be seen in the images shared on social networks. Vicora and his girlfriend are surprised because “it is not collapsed and they are organized. You line up, ask for admission and they serve you.”
His adventure in Spanish public health continues, as the brother is referred to the emergency room. “Soon an orphan of a brother,” Vicora jokes. Before entering this side of the hospital, the Colombian asks himself, “But don’t you have to pretend to be sick or something like that? In Colombia, if you don’t act sick and come out with a bullet in your head, they won’t treat you,” he says. To illustrate this point, his partner has sometimes gone so far as to fake a limp to receive medical attention. For this reason, young people talk about his experience in Spain as “brutal”.
“We spent an hour and a half, they called him to triage and they barely called him for a consultation,” says Vicora, surprised with the speed of the hospital. During the medical examination, they performed “20,000 tests” on his brother, highlighting the exhaustiveness of the diagnostic process in Spain compared to what you have experienced in Colombia. “They don’t know what she has, she has something strange in her liver and kidneys, it may be nothing,” says Vicora, so they leave the hospital while waiting for the results.
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They have to leave their brother for three hours while the laboratory resolves the tests, while the young man remains hospitalized (“another difference,” points out Vicora’s partner). Although the three end up leaving the center without clear answers, the situation has left a deep impression on Vicora, who values the efficiency and order of the Spanish hospital system.
Among the comments, many are surprised by the attention received. “How much do they charge you?” several ask. The creator of the video assures that he had travel insurance, but it must be emphasized that in Spain “the right to health protection and health care, under the same conditions, is guaranteed to all people who are in the State.” Spanish”.
