Medical Assistance and Health Services in Tenerife

“Traveling with children ®” shares with you useful tips and information about places to visit with children in the Canary Islands. If you are traveling in Tenerife, you can find attractions in the “Traveling with children ®” Tenerife attractions map.

When vacationing or wintering in Tenerife, it is not only important to know where to travel, what to eat and where to shop, but also where to look for help if health fails or an accident occurs.

Medical assistance and health services in Tenerife: according to the most frequently asked questions, we have prepared a MEMORY for you.

We have no doubt that our preparation will be useful for you: Tips for preparing for a trip with children.

Travel and health insurance

The European Health Insurance Card

Get travel and medical insurance. This is extremely important.

Take out the European Health Card issued by the Sickness Funds for both yourself and your children. You can simply go to the nearest branch of the Health Insurance Fund and they will make a card for you on the spot. You can order online and pick up after notification. Have your and your children’s ID documents – you will need them both when ordering and collecting cards.

The European Health Card will guarantee you the opportunity to apply to public health institutions in Tenerife for urgent or acute situations and injuries.

Important Things to Know

Important! For those who did not have time to prepare or forgot to put European health insurance cards in their suitcase, health insurance specialists remind them of a quick, free way out – you can instantly download a certificate replacing the card to your mobile phone. The certificate, like the European Health Insurance Card (ESID), confirms the right of a person covered by compulsory health insurance (PSI) to receive necessary medical assistance, the costs of which are fully or partially covered by health insurance funds.

If a resident with PSD insurance left Lithuania without taking the ESDK or lost it during the trip, and he urgently needed to contact a treatment facility in a European country for the necessary medical assistance, you can use your mobile phone or computer to connect to the VLK information system and create certificates on your own, temporarily replacing the card. You can also create a certificate for your children under 18 there. In order to be able to identify a person, you need to log in through the Electronic Government Gate portal. The information system automatically creates a certificate for the current month.

It is important to know that if the insured person did not have an ESDK or a certificate replacing it while visiting European countries, he will have to pay the costs of the necessary medical assistance services provided with his own funds. However, even in this case, upon returning to Lithuania, you can apply to the territorial health insurance fund based on your place of residence for reimbursement of incurred expenses.

Travel insurance

If you are traveling with children, we advise you to consider additional Travel Insurance (medical expenses and travel accident insurance). This way you will feel safer, you will be able to apply to private hospitals, clinics and doctors.

Contact insurance broker Donatas Krickas by e-mail or tel. +37061519944, who knows the local health system very well and will select and offer you the most suitable insurance for your trip or wintering in Tenerife.

If you have a bank card, you may also have Travel Insurance with it. Be sure to check before you buy extra – you can save. Find out if it is valid for your family members and what are the conditions of its validity.

Medicines

We recommend and advise you to take all the most important and common medicines with you from Lithuania. There is no shortage of medicines in pharmacies here, but you will not find all of them that you are probably used to using (especially anti-allergic, anti-cough, even good bacteria for children). Take your usual medicines, because you may be disappointed that after visiting several pharmacies, we will not get you the usual ones, and your holiday may turn sour just because of that. In addition, pharmacies in tourist areas very often offer herbal or homeopathic medicines, which may not necessarily be suitable for your child or you.

Where to go if a child or other family member becomes disabled in Tenerife?

State medical institutions

Here we present only the treatment facilities we have tested and general advice based on our experience. We remind you once again that public medical institutions – emergency departments, polyclinics and hospitals will accept free of charge in case of an acute illness or injury with a European health insurance card.

If an accident has happened and you want to get help as soon as possible, contact the nearest URGENCIA (first aid department) located in your or a neighboring city. The URGENCIA department will accept a European health insurance card for free.

It is important to know that if the doctors assess that your child or you need specific help, they will recommend that you contact the island’s main and largest university hospital as soon as possible. CANDELARIA (Hospital Universitario Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria).

I would like to point out that URGENCIA departments are of different levels, have different specialists or even equipment. The bigger the city, the more professional the URGENCIA department is and able to offer greater assistance.

Reach Hospital del Sur here: Hospital del Sur de Tenerife.

Our experience: we only had to deal with one public ERGENCIA on the island for injuries, which serves a fairly large region on the island. In one case, they stitched up a wound for us. In another case, after taking the X-rays, they sent them to a larger hospital for a more serious consultation. Our experience was the best, he served politely, took care of the children to the maximum, really tried to do his duty as best and as pleasantly as possible in that situation.

Private medical institutions – hospitals

In private hospitals, the European Health Insurance Card will not be valid. If you have travel insurance, request invoices for all expenses and contact your insurance for reimbursement. If you don’t have insurance, you will have to pay for it yourself.

Major private clinics in southern Tenerife: Quiron Salud and Hospital Sur.

We usually visit the latter – HOSPITEN SUR (don’t confuse it with the public Hospital del Sur), because Quiron Salud could not offer certain specialists in our situation, that’s why we chose Hospiten Sur.

Hospital Sur – a large private hospital, the services of which are often used by local residents themselves. We visit Hospiten Sur more often than other medical institutions. We almost always face the problem of waiting. We are satisfied with the services and attention of specialist doctors. It is very convenient that everything is in one place – laboratory, ultrasound, X-ray, etc. We have also been hospitalized. The wards are neat and spacious, with a separate bed for the accompanying person, with a separate bathroom in the ward. knot, TV, internet, towels, disposable slippers. The food is really good, large portions.

Pluses: the hospital is large, has over 200 beds, good specialists who come once or twice a week from clinics and hospitals in the capital. It has all the equipment, a laboratory, performs operations and other research and interventions. If necessary, they offer a translator from/to English or German.

Cons: Due to the same size, the first aid department is quite busy and you have to wait to be seen by specialists. Even if you have an appointment and do not go to the first aid department, you sometimes have to wait an hour before being admitted, even though you have an appointment.

Private clinics and doctors

There are certainly such, especially in tourist areas, but we ourselves do not have to use their services often.

We have been in contact with a Polish doctor who speaks English and is in great demand among Lithuanian mothers – she, Consulta Médica Krystyna Maria Panek Blaszczak, accepts in its clinic in Puerto de Santiago. We recommend it if you live nearby and do not need very urgent help, but you are worried about a high temperature or other unpleasant symptoms.

Vaccines

Our first recommendation is to talk to your pediatrician while still in Lithuania. Our experience shows that some of the vaccinations are simply arranged by doctors in a different schedule – so there is no need to worry about this issue in another country. The doctors will give you some vaccinations before you leave, others will be postponed a little later.

If you are coming for a longer period of time and want to get one or more vaccinations – our recommendation is to contact the already mentioned doctor Consulta Médica Krystyna Maria Panek Blaszczak, whose experience in the neighboring country Poland will ensure easier communication and planning for you. Contact her even before you arrive in Tenerife – this way you will get clearer information about which vaccinations the doctor can organize and which ones are better to get in Lithuania.

Important! Since the schedule and part of the vaccinations in Spain and the Canary Islands are different, it is possible that you will not even be able to receive certain vaccinations.

There are families who, having arrived with babies and having a European health insurance card, got the necessary vaccinations at state polyclinics. Therefore, there is also such a possibility, but organizing may be more difficult due to the language barrier.

Research Laboratories

The biggest problem we face here is that we have to fight for blood tests before prescribing antibiotics. I don’t know how they prescribe them to locals, but if tourists come with a child with a fever, they very often prescribe antibiotics even without conducting the necessary blood tests to determine the level of CRB (inflammation index).

That’s why we often get questions about testing labs in Tenerife.

The already mentioned one has its own laboratory – Hospital Sur.

As far as Red Canaria Laboratorios are concerned, there is a complete network of laboratories in Tenerife. A few of them in the south:

• Laboratorio Damián Trujillo, UPOM Laboratorio Los Cristianos
• Laboratorio San Isidro SLP

Dentist services

Even a toothache can turn a holiday sour. And if you’ve been on vacation for a longer period of time or are in the winter, other situations may arise when you need to see a dentist or show your child’s teeth. After all, we can have various situations, from pain to such that a milk tooth does not fall out, and another one is already sprouting.

We always recommend contacting a Lithuanian stomatologist for such questions: contact Mindaugas Uselis, tel. +34603363200. He will not only advise and reassure, but also accept for consultation or treatment if necessary.

Agnė Penkauskaitė, who visited Mindaugas and Tenerife,are taking care of cleaning the teeth of members of the Lithuanian community. They answer some questions for us about where you should not wait and see a doctor urgently with your children. You should do so even if you are not spending the winter in Lithuania.

• We asked whether to fix broken milk teeth, because they will fall out anyway.

Mindaugas and Agnė say: “Yes, because untreated baby teeth can cause pain and infection. This can damage the roots of permanent teeth.”

• What to do if the growth is permanent, and milky has not yet fallen out?

Mindaugas and Agnė answer: “If the baby tooth is loose, wobbly, then the child should be encouraged to move it. If the baby tooth is loose and moving it is painful for the child, it is recommended to visit a dentist. Then, listening to his recommendations.”

This happened to us, and unfortunately, without Mindaugas’ help, we did not succeed that time.

 

Possible health hazards

I’d say there are very few of them on the island if you’re careful, safe and attentive as usual.

There are no very dangerous animals or insects. Beware of jellyfish, which are sometimes thrown ashore by the currents – then the lifeguards put up flags that they have “arrived”.

The food here is really high quality, rely on your sense of smell and taste. Do not drink or use tap water for cooking – buy large 8 L bottles.

Clothes and Air

When traveling to the mountains or further north, take warmer clothes to avoid catching a cold.

Kalima is a sand storm from the African deserts. Locals and long-term residents try not to change their schedule too much due to sandstorms. However, for those who are less fit and have respiratory diseases, we recommend avoiding active outdoor activities. Those people should be indoors or traveling to the mountains. There, kalima is felt less. It is important to know that often unpleasant viruses such as rota, noro or the like often come with kalima, some people get headaches.

However, the weather in Tenerife is more or less good all year round, so you will just strengthen your health and treat yourself to warmth and water activities.

This article is author’s work and was prepared by “Traveling with Children ®”. Copying and using without permission is strictly prohibited.

Don’t forget to follow us on social networks. You can find more about travel in Lithuania on the Facebook account “Traveling with children” and on the Instagram account “Traveling with children”.

Information about traveling around the world on the Facebook account “Traveling with children around the world” and on the Instagram account “Traveling with children around the world”.

Looking for more places to visit with kids, travel tips and recommendations? Make sure to connect to groups of travelers with children. We also invite you to share your travel experiences here.

If you want to share your trip or travel experience with children, feel free to email us by post.