Spain has an excellent health service that reaches every corner of the country, however remote, and is available to everybody, no matter where they might live. It is also absolutely free for all Spaniards. Foreign visitors from the European Union may also avail of this free service if they carry an E-111 form. It must be stressed that in cases of emergency, everybody in Spain is entitled to free and immediate medical care, whatever their place of origin or for whatever reasons they find themselves in the country.

The province of Málaga is divided into six health areas, in practical terms corresponding to six of the nine districts that make up the province. Each of these areas has a large hospital, and all the healthcare infrastructure (ambulances, health centres and so on) in that area is administratively linked to that hospital. 


These areas are La Vega, with headquarters in Antequera; Serranía with headquarters in Ronda; Guadalhorce Valley, centred in Cártama; Málaga centred in Málaga City, Costa del Sol, whose headquarters is in Mijas; and finally Axarquía, centred in Vélez-Málaga.

Nevertheless, the average tourist is most interested in where his nearest hospital is. These are as follows: in the northern area of the province, the Antequera Hospital; in the north west, the so-called Basic Hospital of the Serranía de Ronda; in the western Costa del Sol, the Hospital of the Costa del Sol in Marbella; in the eastern Costa del Sol, the Axarquía Hospital in Vélez-Málaga, and finally, in Málaga City, the Materno Infantil Hospital, the Hospital Civil, the Virgen de la Victoria Hospital, also known as the University Clinic Hospital, and the Carlos Haya Regional Hospital. There is also the Maritime Hospital in Torremolinos.

 For routine care or medical problems that are not urgent, one is advised to go to the nearest ‘ambulatorio’ or health centre, both of which, in practical terms, carry out the same function. A health centre, however, offers more services than an ‘ambulatorio,’ which is oriented more towards general medicine, with family doctors on hand and capable of dealing with emergencies, but without the range of services provided in a health centre. If the patient requires more specific treatment, he will be sent to the nearest hospital or the most suitable one for his medical problem.

Between private and public health facilities in the province of Málaga, there are 23 hospitals, 114 health centres, 530 pharmacies and a wide range of ambulance services. The result is that everybody can be seen by qualified medical personnel wherever they are, on the coast or in the interior. The public hospitals are, naturally, all situated in areas of easy and rapid access.

In case of emergency, call 061 immediately, or 112, which is the European emergency number and which will be answered 24 hours of the day in a choice of four languages: Spanish, English, French or German. Health care for the visitor is full and efficient, and is guaranteed everywhere in the country.