Medical Care

Medical care on the Canary Islands is good to very good — the islands are part of Spain and thus the EU health system.

With the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC)

EU citizens are entitled to treatment in public health centers (Centros de Salud) and hospitals with the EHIC (back of the German health insurance card). In practice, this means:

• Treatment in public facilities is free (with presentation of the EHIC)
• Waiting times can be long — especially in high season
• Language barrier: Doctors often do not speak German, sometimes English

Private Doctors & Clinics

In tourist centers, there are numerous German-speaking private doctors and clinics:

• Tenerife South: German doctors in Playa de las Américas, Los Cristianos, and Costa Adeje — partly with German practice standards
• Gran Canaria South: Clinica Germano-Canaria and other German-speaking practices in Maspalomas/Playa del Inglés
• Fuerteventura: German doctors in Corralejo and Costa Calma
• Lanzarote: German-speaking practices in Playa Blanca and Puerto del Carmen

Private treatment costs 50–150 € per visit depending on the doctor — reimbursable with international health insurance.

Hospitals

The main hospitals with 24-hour emergency departments (Urgencias):

• Tenerife: Hospital Universitario de Canarias (La Laguna), Hospital del Sur (Arona)
• Gran Canaria: Hospital Universitario Insular (Las Palmas), Hospital Dr. Negrín (Las Palmas)
• Lanzarote: Hospital Dr. José Molina Orosa (Arrecife)
• Fuerteventura: Hospital General de Fuerteventura (Puerto del Rosario)
• La Palma: Hospital General de La Palma (Santa Cruz de La Palma)

Pharmacies (Farmacias)

Pharmacies are recognizable by the green cross. Outside opening hours, there is always a Farmacia de Guardia (on-call pharmacy) — the schedule is posted at each pharmacy. Many medications that are prescription-only in Germany are available over the counter in Spain.