Antibiotics in Malaga

[1stwife]

Morning. My 18 year old daughter is in Malaga on a college trip. She has just told me she has had a UTI for a few days and is now pretty unwell. Her teachers and other students have gone to the college they are here to visit and she stayed behind at the hostel they are staying in as she felt so unwell. I think she needs an antibiotic at this stage. Could someone advise me/her what to do to get her one? I think the rest of her group won’t be back until this evening and she is v poorly now. She has her EHIC card with her and passport. Thanks.

Contact the tutor team, they need to get her to a local doctor ASAP. They still have responsibility for her and can't just abandon her!

Can she get to a pharmacist? In Spain they're excellent and can prescribe certain medications without a doctor's appointment.

We've been there a few times with things like infected insect bites and come away with antibiotics for a few euros.

Hi OP. I am an interpreter living in Spain and do a lot of medical work.
She needs to be taken to ‘Urgencias’ (yes, it sounds like A&E but in Spain you can see an emergency doctor/GP there. Or a private GP covered by the insurance. She will be given an antibiotic straightaway. I am amazed this has not been done already, a teenager walking about with an untreated UTI in 30+ degree heat…?

However, on googling, I've now learned that this is illegal but many pharmacists do supply antibiotics

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/24272748_The_Sale_of_Antibiotics_without_Prescription_in_Pharmacies_in_Catalonia_Spain

Admittedly, it is some time since we did this and @HcbSS advice is more correct. There should be information at the college or hostel about how to find the nearest Urgencias place, which sounds like it could be similar to a UK walk in clinic.

Thanks for replies. @HcbSS I have sent her your reply. She just doesn’t want to be seen to make a fuss but I have tried to impress the seriousness of it. I did suggest getting a flight from N Ireland to make sure she was ok but this was firmly rejected 😝

That’s it. You would not be turned away in Spain and told ‘make a GP appointment’ as you might in the UK. I saw a patient the other week in urgencias with tonsillitis (really a GP case but it was a Friday and she couldn’t get an appointment until the Monday so they just saw her) and another for conjunctivitis. And they will speak English there for sure. Please tell her to go. And a teacher should be taking her. It’s pretty disgraceful this hasn’t been flagged up.
They absolutely won’t think she is making a fuss! If I were in Malaga I would be offering to come and help her! Must be so grim.

Yes, tell her from me not to ignore it - I tried to treat my own at home for a week and ended up very sick with a kidney infection and I peed myself several times because I couldn't get to the loo in time. It was an e coli infection (very common for UTI!) so was just going to make me more and more ill.

Also, if she can get to a pharmacy to get a sterile pot to take a sample in - they may get her to do a new one there but it does help to take one.

OP I have just sent you a PM with the text she should take to the doctor to explain her symptoms in Spanish. Do let me know if she needs more help. Must be worrying for you

I hope she is OK, and I am loving the help and assistance being provided by @HcbSS who knows the Spanish system. Kudos.

@HcbSS thank you so much for this.

I really appreciate you taking time to do this. Very kind and thoughtful 💐

Although my kids often laugh at me for consulting Mumsnet, they have benefitted from the advice many times!