The Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Health (FADSP) presented yesterday the study that analyzes the amount dedicated to primary care (AP) in the different health budgets of the autonomous communities for this 2024, and the conclusions are not very flattering. Marciano Sánchez Bayle, spokesman for the organization and pediatrician, stressed that this service is "insufficiently funded" and also has "intolerable delays". Catalonia, he remarked, "is at the head of the country in this section". Especially worrying, he said, is the situation of the service in Madrid, which closes the table in the budget dedicated to the AP per inhabitant. It also occupies the lowest places in the ranking of communities that devote the least resources to this service. Also, the FADSP regretted the "limitations" of the study due to the "systematic lack of transparency" of the communities to provide official data.
Regarding the first variable (money dedicated to the AP per inhabitant), the figures range between 402 euros for Extremadura, which tops the ranking, and 150.9 for Madrid, which closes it. Catalonia, with 264.8 euros, is below the average (287.4 euros). Above are, in addition to Extremadura, Cantabria (346.6), the Canary Islands (329.6), Castile and Leon (329.3), La Rioja (323.7), the Balearic Islands (314.1), Andalusia (312.3), the Basque Country (308.3) and Asturias (306.5).
The Community of Madrid has the worst position, with 150 euros, although it is 11.4 more than in 2023. It is followed by the Community of Valencia (154 euros), Murcia (247.3), Navarra (262.6), Catalonia (264.8), Aragon (272) and Galicia (274). Compared to a year earlier, the Canary Islands are the region with the highest increase (75.5 euros), followed by Andalusia (65.8) and the Balearic Islands, with 54.7. On the contrary, the largest drop in budget per capita occurs in Asturias, where it falls by 55 euros. The national average rises by 7.2 euros, from 280.2 to 287.4.
If we focus on the percentage of the health budget of the communities allocated to the PA, Extremadura again leads the table with 18.58%, while the Valencian Community closes it with 9.23%. Catalonia, with 16.80%, is above the average (15.02%). Madrid, for its part, registers 10.03%, and occupies the penultimate position in this table.
Regarding this section, from the FADSP they regret the "small increase" between 2023 and 2024 (3 hundredths) compared to what there was between 2021 and 2023. They also point out that all the percentages "are very far" from 25%, "which is the desirable figure and the figure claimed by all the organizations linked to the sector", pointed out Sánchez Bayle.
The community that rises the most in this section compared to 2023 is Andalusia, 3.09 points, just ahead of Extremadura, which grows 1.79 points. In this line of growth, and in the absence of data from Castilla-La Mancha, matches for AP also grow in the Canary Islands (1.75), the Balearic Islands (1.5) and Murcia, 0.70. Three communities repeat their budgets, having extended those of the previous year: Catalonia, Castilla y León and Navarre. In the rest they fall, although the comparison cannot be made in Aragon and the Basque Country, since they did not provide data for 2023. The autonomy where the budget falls the most is Asturias (3.69 points), followed by La Rioja, with 1.58, Galicia and Madrid (0.7) and Cantabria, 0.28.
Sánchez Bayle highlighted the worrisome situation in Madrid, "where the money is spent on luxury", with reference to the sports project of Formula 1 for 2026, while quality public services, such as the AP, "are "systematically despised ".
In general terms, he underlined the "worrying" situation presented by the service in Spain, where the AP continues to be "the poor sister of budgets", he argued. In addition, he reproached the autonomous administrations for the lack of transparency in providing the data.
From the FADSP they understand that the improvement of the AP situation must go through the increase of the budget and of the healthcare expenditure for this service until it reaches 25%; guarantee health care within a maximum of 48 hours and face-to-face whenever it is requested by the population (according to the Health Barometer of October 2023, 27.2% of citizens received an appointment in 11 or more days), and significantly increase the resources of all professional categories.
