Tenerife Hospital Opens Extra Clinics to Address Child Mental Health Crisis

Health authorities in northern Tenerife are launching an emergency response to address a growing mental health crisis among children and adolescents. As reported by El Día, the Hospital Universitario de Canarias (HUC) will open three extra afternoon clinics starting next week. This move aims to handle the backlog from the Specialized Care Center (CAE) in La Orotava, which had effectively ground to a halt after its lead specialist went on long-term medical leave.

This decision follows intense pressure from the advocacy group Visión Azul Autismo. Families recently informed La Orotava’s mayor, Francisco Linares, of the dire situation: children are being left without diagnoses, medication treatments have been interrupted, and follow-up appointments are being pushed back as far as May 2027. This lack of care is particularly damaging for patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, depression, and anxiety, all of whom require consistent medical support.

Mayor Linares explained that the delay in finding a solution was due to the ongoing difficulty of recruiting doctors to fill vacant roles—a systemic issue across the public health sector. While the Ministry of Health’s plan to use HUC staff for extra shifts will provide some immediate relief, many families view it as a temporary "patch" rather than a permanent fix.

Despite the new clinics, Visión Azul Autismo is moving forward with a protest planned for October 28, pending official approval. The group argues that the service’s instability cannot be solved with short-term measures and is calling for long-term planning to guarantee healthcare for minors. The situation highlights the vulnerability of mental health services in the islands' peripheral areas, where a shortage of specialists is creating significant inequality in public healthcare access.