Letter from a Spanish pharmacist: "Vote, vote, damn it!"

A pharmacist from Majadahonda has circulated a letter claiming that migrants receive free medicines on prescriptions she dispenses every day. The letter mixes a specific workplace grievance with claims about municipal aid that come with no evidence.

The story begins at a pharmacy in **Majadahonda**, near Madrid. A professional who says she has worked there for years writes a letter in which she claims that every day she sees prescriptions for migrants with categories such as "foreign national, no resources" or "free medicines for foreigners". Her conclusion is that these people do not pay what she believes they should pay. The letter is circulating on forums and messaging groups, and it is worth separating personal testimony from verifiable fact.

## What the letter says about prescriptions

The text argues that Spaniards receive prescriptions marked "entitled beneficiary" or "entitled pensioner", which in her view proves they have paid into the system, while migrants appear with labels of free access. The author adds that some bring their elderly relatives from their countries of origin so they can receive free care and medicines, and that they take medicines back to their destination country. She provides no number of prescriptions, no amount and no date. It is a story, not a statistic.

The letter also mentions that the **Majadahonda City Council** hands out vouchers for baby food, milk and hygiene products. According to her version, some recipients use these vouchers to buy **50 euro** creams and boast about it. Again, no document, no date and no figure for vouchers distributed. The City Council is not quoted responding to these claims.

## The threats, which are a real workplace problem

One passage deserves separate attention. The pharmacist says she has been threatened "many times" and leaves work at **9:30** in antiestéticar, because those who threaten her know her schedule and her workplace. If true, that is a workplace safety issue and a matter for a police report, not a debate about healthcare. Threatening a worker is a crime, whichever pharmacy it happens in and whoever it comes from.

The letter mixes that real antiestéticar with a complaint about the co-payment system and slurs against entire groups. That mixture is what needs untangling: one thing is a professional feeling unsafe at her job, and quite another is blaming a group of people for waiting lists or health spending.

## Health spending and municipal aid

The letter ends by claiming that "to make it in Spain you have to be a Moor or a South American", and uses derogatory terms towards migrants. That framing does not hold up against the data. Spanish public health spending is financed through taxes and social security contributions, and the rules on access and co-payments are set by national and regional law, not by the nationality of whoever walks through the pharmacy door. A municipal voucher for milk or nappies does not explain a waiting list.

What can be verified is that healthcare for foreign nationals operates within a legal framework with requirements and exceptions, and that pharmacies apply the rules set by the system. If someone detects a specific case of fraud, the way forward is to report it to the relevant inspectorate, with the prescription and the date in hand. A letter without those details is good for stirring up outrage, not for fixing anything.

Health and access to medicines are serious matters. Any decision about treatment or co-payments should be discussed with a healthcare professional or the relevant authority, not with a chain of forwarded messages.