Not enough doctors

THE number of doctors in Alicante Province is amongst the lowest in Spain.
In relation to proportion of doctors to population, data from the National Statistics Institute (INE) reveal there are 351.10 physicians per 100,000 inhabitants in the province; the ninth lowest in the country.
The past few years have seen demonstrations calling for an end to cuts in the health service, as our picture shows.
This may have had some effect as despite the low national placing, the figure is an improvement on 2013.
At the end of 2014, there were 6,560 registered doctors, slightly more than the 6,376 registered at the end of 2013.
Along with this increase of almost 200 doctors, the demographic decline has to be taken into account.
The official population figure of Alicante is lower than that of 2013 by 77,000 people, which has helped the proportion of physicians per 100,000 population increase significantly; in 2013 the ratio was 327.70 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants.
It is expected that the number of physicians in the province will increase in the coming years due to progressive output of medical students from local universities.
By gender, there are still more male doctors that female, although at 45 per cent, more women are now entering the field of medicine.
Zaragoza has the highest ratio of doctors with 597.12 per 100,000 inhabitants, followed by Salamanca and Madrid.