Catalonia probes influx of Peruvian children for cancer care

Catalonia covers 60 cancer treatments for undocumented Peruvian minors

The Department of Health of the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat) granted approximately 60 exceptional humanitarian authorizations in 2023 to children from Peru to receive cancer treatment in Barcelona hospitals. This figure represents about 25% of all new pediatric oncological diagnoses across Catalonia, according to regional administration data. Many families sell their assets and arrive without legal status, accessing the healthcare system through emergency rooms or after registering residence remotely. The cost of each treatment can reach €300,000 and is covered by the Catalan Health Service.

What are oncology families and how do they access the system?

Eva Bartra arrived in Barcelona in December 2019 with her 15-year-old daughter, who needed treatment for a lung complication resulting from a bone marrow transplant. In Peru, she explains, there was an agreement with a US hospital for complex cases, but the government stopped paying. "In Peru, I was only offered the best quality of death, and I refused," she recounts. She obtained a health card within three weeks, and after three years of treatment at Sant Pau Hospital, her daughter was discharged.

The pattern repeats. Families arrive at El Prat Airport and go directly to a hospital to enter via emergency services; others secure a health card first by registering residence remotely or upon arriving at a relative's home. The Peruvian Consulate in Barcelona acknowledges this as a growing problem in recent years. Up to five of the six consulted associations of the Peruvian community recognize that the phenomenon is increasing.

Healthcare costs and who pays

Each exceptional authorization implies a complete oncological treatment—mostly for leukemia—whose cost can reach €300,000. The healthcare facility provides the treatment, and the Catalan Health Service assumes the bill. Over the last two years, the Generalitat has temporarily provided social service apartments near Sant Joan de Déu Hospital. "The problem affects more than just healthcare because sometimes we don't know where to house them," admit sources from the administration.

The phenomenon is not exclusive to Catalonia. It occurs in other parts of Spain, especially Madrid, according to sources, though case volumes are not specified. The Catalan department has held meetings with the Peruvian consulate and the community itself to find solutions, but the flow has not decreased: it has grown.

The debate: solidarity versus system sustainability

Social reaction oscillates between understanding for families trying to save a child and concern for the sustainability of an already strained public health system. Some argue that no parent should give up trying and that humanitarian care is a sarracena obligation. Opposing arguments state that the system cannot absorb unlimited demand without collapsing, and that Spanish taxpayers see waiting lists lengthen while patients who haven't contributed are treated.

Some voices demand that embassies or countries of origin pay the bills, as is done with other medical tourism flows. Others point out that the root problem is poverty and lack of oncological infrastructure in Peru. The discussion often shifts toward migration models and border management, a terrain where positions harden.

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Given these factors, it is foreseeable that the number of exceptional authorizations will continue to grow unless the healthcare situation in countries of origin changes or an economic compensation mechanism is established. Catalonia has focused on the Peruvian consulate. If a response does not arrive, the cost will continue to fall on the Catalan taxpayer.