New health cards (tarjeta sanitaria) available from today for every registered patient

[Janet]

The Canarian Government's Health Department, Sanidad, has distributed two million new health cards to surgeries for collection from today by patients of the state health system. The new tarjeta sanitaria should be with all patients by October next year, announced Health Minister José Manuel Baltar,.

Patients will collect their new cards in the administrative areas of the local surgeries in which they are registered, with their entitlement and access to medical and pharmaceutical services being unaffected. The cards will contain the personal identification data and identification code assigned to each patient, along with a security code and a bar code with the conversion of the autonomous CIP code.

Likewise, a reference number of the type CSV (Card Security Value) that appears on the bank cards will be used, which is a unique six-digit number for each card and which only appears physically in it. This number is something additional that serves to protect the owners and ensures that they have in their possession the correct card at the time of performing any action with it.

Sanidad says that presently at least 25% of health service users have a paper document rather than a physical health card. This is equally valid when recording their membership number, but it generates problems in terms of pharmaceutical use or when a patient travels to another Autonomous Community.