Tourists using Holidays in Costa del Sol for healthcare?

A Spanish politician has blasted European tourists that visit popular Spanish holiday destinations such as the Costa del Sol to take advantage of the country’s healthcare.

The Socialist ex President of Extremadura, Juan Carlos Rodríguez Ibarra criticized holidaymakers and expatriates that are using their Spanish links to access high quality free healthcare. The outcry came during an interview on Spanish radio and as part of an article written for the El País newspaper.

Ibarra claims that tourists are visiting areas such as the Costa del Sol to take advantage of treatments and operations that are not free in their own country. Brits were blamed as some of the worst culprits, despite that fact that British politicians recently blamed foreign visitors using the NHS as a reason for its poor performance in certain areas.

The article even claimed that some travel agents were adding Spanish healthcare as an attraction when trying to sell holidays in Spain. Whilst some local estate agents used it as an selling point to expats looking to buy luxury villas in the Costa del Sol.
Marbella was one of the worst effected areas with non-Spanish residents accounting for 23% of admissions to its emergency hospital. However as holidays in Marbella are popular with Brits and tourists from across Europe it is not surprising that the figure is so high.