Costa News Spain Breaking News | English News in Spain.
THE Balearic Islands health agency ‘forgot’ to enroll over 4,000 women in the island’s Breast Cancer Prevention Programme, it has emerged.
In the period between 2021-2024, approximately 40% of women aged between 50 and54 were not covered by the system.
They were therefore not invited to undergo routine mammograms, which are designed to detect early breast cancer signs.
If women turning 50 years old during this time period are included, then the figure rises to 43 percent.
Balearic Islands’ health system failed to include them as well.
Women aged 50-69 are encouraged to have their breasts screened every two years. 146,000 women currently participate in the program.
The system had 43,000 new women join in the past year. Of those, 59% were required to go through the screening.
General Director of Public Health, Elena Esteban, recognised the system’s failure and claimed it was down to ‘high rotation of administrative staff’.
She said the invitation system is manual and outdated, requiring lots of ‘manpower’ which the department does not have.
A third-party administrative company will now be responsible for the inclusion of women who have been missed into the system.
In the future, they can expect to receive an invitation via post. However, this will be replaced by an automated procedure using SMS.
Esteban claims that the plan to automate the healthcare systems is already underway.
She hopes that data will be updated within four months, so that women who have been missed can be invited to join the programme.
The delay in breast cancer screenings at Son Espaces Hospital can be up to two-months.
Esteban now wants the hospital to open weekends for appointments in order to meet the demand and reduce delays.
