Travel clinic

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casita-bonita
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Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:04 pm

Afternoon all.

Apparently somewhere in the vicinity of Malaga port there is an NHS travel clinic where you can go and get advice on any medication/inoculations required when travelling to foreign climes. We have checked various sources and the indications are that we may well need to take anti malarial pills as we will be spending some time in the jungles of Indonesia.

I believe all our jabs (yellow fever, hep, tetanus etc)are current, but on previous trips to similar places we took doxycycline as a precaution against malaria. Our village doctor said that we need to visit this place and if deemed necessary they will recommend the drug/drugs that we need. He can then write a prescription for sufficient quantity to cover our trip and the following 4 weeks after returning home.

Does anybody know where this clinic is located?

Is it walk-in or do you need to make an appointment?

TIA
Regards

Bob

Free at Last
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Free at Last » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:39 pm

If you scroll down the page below until you reach Málaga, you will find the address, or click on the map:-

http://www.msc.es/profesionales/saludPu ... osvacu.htm

There is the facility to make a cita previa via the same page, but I don't know whether it's compulsory to have an appointment or not. It might be advisable in order to save a possible wasted journey, or ring them in advance to check.

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Aug 31, 2017 4:57 pm

That looks like the place. Many thanks.

Probably best to arrange appointments in advance although I'd imagine this time of year may well be their slack time.

One more thing I can check off the todo list. :clap:
Regards

Bob

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Thu Sep 14, 2017 3:55 pm

I am not entitled to use the health service here in Spain. I need a travel vaccination clinic. Does anyone knkw where I can find one, preferably somewher between Malaga and Granada?

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:31 pm

You can walk into pretty much any private clinic and pay for any vaccinations that you may need. Yellow fever we had in the UK, but you should also be able to get that here. Check the UK Gov website for recommendations regarding jabs etc. We did this for the first few years before we got onto the Spanish health service. In fact we haven't needed any since then, and don't believe that we will now as they are still up to date. But we are going to Indonesia and according to the UK Gov website we should take anti-malarial precautions. We're going to the travel clinic more for the experience rather than cost as we want to see if we can get Doxycycline prescribed. Not a big deal if we can't as we can buy them at our local farmacia for around 40euros per box, or in the past we ordered from Chemist Direct for delivery to my daughter and later collection.
Last edited by casita-bonita on Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Regards

Bob

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Thu Sep 14, 2017 4:32 pm

Free at Last wrote:If you scroll down the page below until you reach Málaga, you will find the address, or click on the map:-

http://www.msc.es/profesionales/saludPu ... osvacu.htm

There is the facility to make a cita previa via the same page, but I don't know whether it's compulsory to have an appointment or not. It might be advisable in order to save a possible wasted journey, or ring them in advance to check.
Made appointments for 27th Sept using the website. Will let you know how it goes...
Regards

Bob

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Fri Sep 15, 2017 1:25 pm

casita-bonita wrote:You can walk into pretty much any private clinic and pay for any vaccinations that you may need. Yellow fever we had in the UK, but you should also be able to get that here. Check the UK Gov website for recommendations regarding jabs etc. We did this for the first few years before we got onto the Spanish health service. In fact we haven't needed any since then, and don't believe that we will now as they are still up to date. But we are going to Indonesia and according to the UK Gov website we should take anti-malarial precautions. We're going to the travel clinic more for the experience rather than cost as we want to see if we can get Doxycycline prescribed. Not a big deal if we can't as we can buy them at our local farmacia for around 40euros per box, or in the past we ordered from Chemist Direct for delivery to my daughter and later collection.

Thanks, I am a regular traveller to Asia so I got all the usual vaccinations at my local pharmacist and doctor. However I need a booster for Revaxis (Diptheria, Tetanus, Polio) which I cannot find outside of the health service. The Doctor and pharmacist (who has made special orders for me for some vaccinations) told me that my booster is only available on the health service...which I am not entitled to use....Catch 22 it seems. In the UK specialist travel clinics carry ut as regular stock and any NHS doctor will have it. However I cannot find it privately here

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Fri Sep 15, 2017 2:19 pm

I can ask a GP we see in Nerja if he can get it if you want to travel this way.
Regards

Bob

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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Fri Sep 15, 2017 3:53 pm

Yes please I am often in the Nerja area so it would be no problem at all, as long as he can administer it privately outside the health service

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Fri Sep 15, 2017 4:05 pm

That's ok then, I was wondering as your acc details say Madrid..

I'll drop him a whatsapp as, well this is Spain and one thing that I've learnt is that just because one official says something it's entirely likely that a second official will say the opposite.... :-)
Regards

Bob

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Fri Sep 15, 2017 4:27 pm

Yes we split time between Madrid and the coast. We have only been here permanently 6 weeks and already I have discovered the officialdom contradicting themselves is a way of life. Even in the face of written evidence!

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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Free at Last » Fri Sep 15, 2017 4:35 pm

casita-bonita wrote:
Made appointments for 27th Sept using the website. Will let you know how it goes...
Thanks, I'd be interested to hear how it works. Good luck.

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Fri Sep 15, 2017 5:07 pm

Paddy Pumpkin wrote:

Yes we split time between Madrid and the coast. We have only been here permanently 6 weeks and already I have discovered the officialdom contradicting themselves is a way of life. Even in the face of written evidence!
That's another thing that I've learnt, written evidence, for the most part you may as well wipe your ass with it....

The third thing I learnt is than whenever there's a need to tangle with officialdom call my Gestor and get her onto it... Life becomes a lot simpler.
Regards

Bob

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Sat Sep 16, 2017 1:01 pm

Paddy Pumpkin wrote:Yes please I am often in the Nerja area so it would be no problem at all, as long as he can administer it privately outside the health service
Didn't hear back yesterday so will give him a call on Monday.
Regards

Bob

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Mon Sep 18, 2017 3:30 pm

In a nutshell they said that at the moment the farmacias don't have the innoculations so therefore can't do it. Wasn't clear whether that meant that they could do it at a later date... They suggested the travel clinic... :-)

Maybe you can go to the travel clinic and pay for the jabs... Might be worth pursuing.
Regards

Bob

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:20 pm

Bob...Thanks for asking, really appreciate it. Yes I think I will just try the health service clinic...worst that can happen is that I get deported for not being vaccinated!

casita-bonita
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby casita-bonita » Sat Sep 30, 2017 2:24 pm

So been there, done that. Have to say that they were very efficient for our appointments. Had a couple of slots booked online for which they sent email reminders a day before. The doctor we saw spoke fluent english which was something of a relief. However as she pointed out when I proffered my NHS card they are ministry not health service. The upshot of this I guess is that anyone with an NIE can go along to see them to find out medical requirements for an area they plan to visit. Most of their data comes from the WHO website which you could look up yourself. She did enter all of the data from our inoculation cards into her system so our records would be up to date when we next visit.

After discussion regarding the areas in Indonesia we plan to visit and any associated disease risks she gave us a signed official piece of paper listing the recommended inoculations and potions that we should have for Indonesia. You can then take this to a farmacia and purchase the medicines, or go to your local clinic (if you are on the NHS) and some may be prescribed, other you have to purchase.

All in all a very stress free experience, except for trying to walk along the Larios' ice rink in the rain without falling on my ass.

Next stop the local clinic to see what they will prescribe and what we need to purchase ourselves.
Regards

Bob

Free at Last
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Free at Last » Sat Sep 30, 2017 3:54 pm

Thanks for the report back on how it works. It does seem like a lot of trouble to go to, having to go to Málaga just to get the authorisation rather than them administering the innoculations there as well.

Hope you will enjoy your trip, anyway.

Paddy Pumpkin
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Re: Travel clinic

Postby Paddy Pumpkin » Sat Sep 30, 2017 11:26 pm

I booked an appointment for late October, but was passing by the other day so just went in to chance my arm. Doctor was free and I knew exactly what I needed so she just wrote the prescription for me. The difference was she knew the name of the Spanish alternative so when I went to the farmacia there was no problem. They asked for ID and I just gave my passport. No need for NIE or being Resident in Spain...all surprisingly painless, apart from the jab which still hurts!


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