ONCE again, Spain's healthcare system is the best in Europe – it's official.
And State medical services in the country are the third-most efficient on earth, beaten only by those of Hong Kong and Singapore respectively.
The annual ranking compiled by Bloomberg covers 56 national health services in total, and Bulgaria sits at the bottom with the USA, where medical treatment availability depends upon patients' insurance covering it, is second from bottom, below Azerbaijan.
Even some countries in the European Union fare very badly in the Bloomberg ranking: perhaps surprisingly, Germany is among the least efficient at number 45 out of 56, having fallen six places from last year and beaten by Kazakhstan and Ecuador, whilst Hungary sits at 42.
Denmark, a nation far ahead of the rest of the world in many aspects including quality of life and employment, and generally among the most modern countries on earth, comes 41st out of 56, climbing one place up from last year and beaten by Venezuela and Iran.
Belgium, at 38, ranks worse than Romania, and even Perú where crowded A&E departments and medical treatment coming at a cost to the patient mean even natives consider the service poor.
And if anyone was in any doubt about whether the NHS in the UK was as inefficient as mass media claims and was getting worse, its ranking of 35th out of 56, a fall of 14 places on last year's 21 putting it behind Slovakia and Algeria, appears to be confirmation – and professionals fear the slide will continue if European staff carry on leaving as a result of the uncertainty of their post-Brexit future, and EU citizens' emigration to Britain is restricted after the end of March 2019.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com