The Non-Urgent Medical Transport (TSNU) committee, managed by the Canary Emergency Service (SUC) under the Canary Islands Government's Health Department, has registered serious incidents at its base in Los Realejos, northern Tenerife. These acts have led to a restructuring of routes and the loss of non-vital treatments for numerous patients.
The first incidents occurred on Monday, June 15, preventing staff access to the facility early in the morning. Twelve transport units were rendered inoperable by 06:00 AM, with two more starting at 08:00 AM. This situation necessitated a critical reorganization of the service, suspending non-vital treatments to prioritize hemodialysis. This severely impacted patients, who did not have guaranteed transport for their substitute treatments, and affected dialysis and rehabilitation centers, disrupting their operations.
The initial incident resulted in 53 lost treatments, spread across the northern and metropolitan areas. Once the facility was accessed, it was found that four resources remained inoperable due to staff shortages, causing further treatment losses for six patients, bringing the total to 59 non-vital treatments lost. Additionally, two transport resources at the Santa Cruz base suffered tire punctures inside the depot, although these were quickly resolved.
On the morning of Tuesday, June 16, the situation recurred with damage to the access of the northern base. Fourteen medical resources could not begin their scheduled shifts, again leaving non-vital treatment transfers unfulfilled to ensure care for patients with vital treatments.
As a consequence of these events, 34 rehabilitation treatments were lost, 28 of them at the contracted center ICOT La Orotava, the University Hospital of the Canary Islands, and Hospiten Tamaragua. Two resources were dispatched from Santa Cruz to cover vital demand in the north, resulting in the loss of two rehabilitation treatments and a delay in a chemotherapy patient's admission at the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. Another four resources were inoperable due to incomplete staffing, affecting 16 rehabilitation patients across four hospital centers, including the contracted center Icot Santa Cruz.
