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It has been an ongoing frustration for patients of Servicio Murciano Salud (SMS), the Murcia regional health authority, that the laminated plastic medical cards have not been issued for over 18 months.

 

Two years have passed with patients using A4-sized temporary documents which are awkward to carry around, deteriorate quickly if not protected and according to the wording on the document are only valid for 3 months. The issuing department justified the situation on a “lack of plastic”.

 

However, on Thursday October 26, the Governing Council of the regional health authority approved a new system that involves providing specialist printers for the issuance of these laminated documents through the entire regional Primary Care network. The implementation of this system, in the coming months, will make it possible to put an end to the current situation.

 

The spokesman of the Murcian Executive, Marcos Ortuño, announced after Thursday’s meeting, that the contract would go out to tender shortly with a base budget of 384,800 euros and the execution period is three months.

 

“The delivery of the equipment, intended to equip the 85 Primary Care centres in all health areas, will be done progressively over a maximum period of three months from the formalisation of the contract,” said the regional executive.

 

In addition, it was pointed out that the contract will be financed within the framework of the Primary Care Infrastructure Improvement Plan (Plan Minap) of the Regional Health Ministry. It is proposed that Medical cards will be issued at health centres at the same time as the application is received from the patient thus alleviating the situation where the Murcian Health Service (SMS) has not issued health cards for at least a year and a half.

 

 

In addition, at the meeting the Governing Council also authorised the procurement of the supply of various medicines for the treatment of various types of onco-haematological diseases, such as melanoma, non-small cell lung cancer, renal angiomyolipoma, renal cell carcinoma, soft tissue sarcoma, breast cancer and chronic myeloid leukaemia.

 

The base tender budget is 26,425,029 euros for a period of one year.

 

Image: COFRM