The Ibiza and Formentera branch of the Balearic College of Physicians is holding a tribute to doctors who served the Pitiusas and have since died, along with the families who supported them.
How the idea began
The tribute, titled “To those doctors who are no longer with us and their families”, grew out of a conversation among members of the college. Retired doctor Eladio Merino explains that it was Dr José María Tugués who proposed honouring colleagues who had worked on the islands, recognising both the huge changes in healthcare over the past 70 years and the families behind the doctors.
Fifty names
Merino and Tugués spent eight months going through records from the 1950s to the present day. They identified 50 doctors who have died, checked each name, and prepared a short biography of each.
Among them are Dr José Costa, known as “Pepet”, who was born at the end of the 19th century and practised until the middle of the 20th, at a time when a doctor relied almost entirely on a stethoscope, careful observation and physical examination. Others include long-serving village doctors such as Dr Salvador Camacho in Santa Eulària, Dr Rebollo in Sant Josep and Dr Rodríguez Vidal in Sant Antoni, as well as the doctors who served Formentera.
The list also includes Esperanza Méndez, head of the admissions service at Can Misses hospital, who died aged 49 a couple of months before the tribute.
How medicine has changed
- 1950s and 60s. Around 40 doctors served Ibiza and Formentera, with only basic laboratory tests and very limited radiology.
- 1969. When Merino began his career, a village doctor was effectively on call all year round, and could be summoned from the cinema, the beach or a party at any time.
- 1970s. The opening of a health centre brought organised out-of-hours shifts.
- Today. The college has around 800 members.
The families
Both doctors stress the role of families. Without spouses and children who kept the home running during long shifts and nights on call, they say, many doctors could not have kept going.
Today’s challenges
Merino says one of the biggest problems now is keeping doctors on the islands. The high cost of living and housing leads many to leave after short contracts, leaving gaps in specialities such as oncology. Tugués argues that on-call work should be properly paid, a source of discontent among doctors across Spain.
The ceremony
The event will be opened by Dr Carlos Rodríguez Ribas, head of the college in Ibiza and Formentera. Merino and Tugués will present a slide for each doctor, with a photograph, dates, where they studied and a summary of their career. The president of the Balearic College of Physicians, Dr Carles Recasens, will speak, families will be invited to share memories, and Vicent Marí, president of the Consell d’Eivissa, and Carmen Ferrer, mayor of Santa Eulària, will close the event.
