Gynaecology and Maternity Care with Sanitas
You do not need a referral, you do not need to explain why you want the appointment, and you do not need to see a family doctor first. You ring the clinic and book.
That is worth saying plainly, because in the Spanish public system a routine gynaecology appointment usually means a visit to your health centre and then a wait for the hospital clinic.
Gynaecologist or obstetrician?
A gynaecologist looks after the female reproductive system. An obstetrician looks after pregnancy and birth. In Spain they are usually the same doctor, which is why you will see the job written as one thing.
The ordinary reasons people book
A smear test. Periods that have changed, become heavier or started hurting. Contraception, or coming off it. Menopause symptoms – and this is one people put up with far longer than they need to. A lump or discomfort that wants looking at. Trying to get pregnant and wanting advice before anything is wrong.
None of it needs a referral and none of it needs to wait.
Pregnancy, and the eight months
This is the single most important thing on the page, so it is not buried at the bottom.
Childbirth is not covered for the first eight months of a policy. Appointments, scans and blood tests during pregnancy are covered sooner, but the birth itself is not.
That is standard across Spanish insurers rather than something Sanitas does alone. It exists so people cannot take out cover once they already know they are pregnant. It is not a penalty and it is not negotiable.
What it means in practice: if you are planning a family, take the policy out before rather than after. Eight months is most of a pregnancy, and people find this out at the point it is too late to do anything about it.
A premature or complicated birth is an emergency, and emergencies are covered from day one whatever your policy dates.
If you already hold private cover in Spain with another insurer, be aware that childbirth is the one waiting period Sanitas will not waive when you switch, even though it waives all the others.
Waiting periods
Consultations, smear tests and standard scans are covered from the day your policy starts. Complex diagnostic tests carry six months. Surgery needing a hospital bed carries ten. Childbirth carries eight.
See every Sanitas waiting period in one place, including how switching from another insurer waives nearly all of them.
Where the gynaecologists are
1,269 clinics across 50 provinces, with 2,746 named specialists between them – and you can book any of them yourself, without a referral.
- Barcelona – 181 clinics, 512 specialists
- Madrid – 165 clinics, 497 specialists
- Malaga – 83 clinics, 144 specialists
- Valencia – 72 clinics, 163 specialists
- Seville – 52 clinics, 136 specialists
- Girona – 41 clinics, 56 specialists
- Cadiz – 40 clinics, 74 specialists
- Alicante – 39 clinics, 103 specialists
Every one of the 50 provinces has at least one, which is true of very few specialties.
Language at the appointment
This is a specialty where it matters more than most, because so much of the appointment is describing symptoms precisely and understanding what you are being told about your own body. Ask us and we will check who is near you and what languages they work in.
What you pay at the appointment
On a plan without co-payments, nothing. The appointment is already covered by your monthly premium.
On a plan with co-payments you pay a small fixed amount each time you attend, usually a few euros. If you expect several appointments in a year – and pregnancy means a lot of them – the no-co-payment plan generally works out cheaper overall.
Find a gynaecologist near you
Browse gynaecologists and obstetricians in the Sanitas directory – by province, with addresses, phone numbers and a map.
