This is not a new situation, the STI centre of the Etxaniz Fire Clinic in Bilbao has been in trouble for a long time. Alfonso Setiey Anitzak, president of LGTBIQA+, believes that the case is “cyclical”: “Patches are put on and problems arise from other places”. The Lehendakari has denounced that the center is “overwhelmed” and that they cannot respond to the needs of the users: “They don’t take calls and a funnel is created.”

You mentioned a number of problems, including the lack of staff and space. Therefore, the quality of the service is deteriorating. In fact, in the space offered today the outpatient clinic can only serve two people at a time; people get stuck and the time to collect results is “getting longer and longer”. In addition, rotations have forced “many” “very skilled” workers to move: “The workers are very poor. They do everything they can, put a lot of hours in and don't treat us badly. They deserve recognition.”

There are two ways to request an appointment, either at the outpatient clinic or by phone: “When people call, no one takes them. Then the dramas and the questions arise: Will I have something? Nobody takes it. I don’t know how to do it.’ They're in the doctor and they're told to go to the Fire Clinic. No one takes it and the journey lengthens and extends.”

Centralisation to the detriment of patients

Care is centralized in a single outpatient clinic. That and not attending to the path of other diseases, says that “increases” the stigmatization: “It seems that it only affects the LGTBIQA+ community, but heteros also have STI. As we've been fearful of pregnancy, we're thrown into the bottomless pit and the SIs come."

The president of Anitzak stressed the importance of the pharmacy of outpatients of the OSI Bilbao-Basurto. In Bizkaia, Prep, pre-exposure prophylaxis to the HIV virus, is the “unique” place where you can take: “The schedule is very limited. It's open in the morning, but in the afternoon it's only an hour and a half. Hours not accessible. Why don’t they put more workers in the evenings?” They give for three months.

Despite the fact that what the association denounces is a case that comes from afar, as of September, they have detected that the issue “goes up”: “We are receiving more and more complaints”. Users are asked to file complaints in Osakidetza and the association has also written numerous complaints, although no changes have been detected: “Osakidetza knows what the problem is, but it doesn’t do it anymore.”