Spain has been rocked by a healthcare scandal after authorities in Andalusia admitted that thousands of women were never informed of their breast cancer screening results.
Officials in the southern region, governed by the right-wing People’s Party (PP), revealed that around 2,000 women had not been notified in recent years of the outcomes of mammograms conducted in public hospitals.
The results that were not shared with women involved inconclusive screenings that should have triggered follow-up tests – a lapse that may have allowed some cancer cases to go undetected and untreated.
Under Spain’s decentralised system, regional governments are in charge of public healthcare.
However, the controversy has quickly escalated into a national issue. Health Minister Mónica García said on social media that she had ordered all regional governments to provide updated data on cancer screening ‘to strengthen surveillance’.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also seized on the scandal in parliament, accusing opposition leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo of having ‘defended the interests of private healthcare’.
In Seville, the breast cancer association Amama announced plans to take legal action against the Andalusian government. ‘Women continue to live with cancer without knowing,’ said the group’s president, Ángela Claverol, speaking to Antena 3 television.
Manuel Jiménez Soto, Amama’s lawyer, said: ‘We must assume responsibilities, I don’t care if they are political. The ones I seek are civil and criminal, which are the ones that can compensate for the damage and harm they have caused to these women.’
Public anger erupted on Wednesday, with thousands of women taking to the streets in several Andalusian cities. In Seville, protesters dressed in pink carried placards reading ‘your handling kills us’. One demonstrator who had undergone a double mastectomy was seen embracing another breast cancer patient.
Under mounting pressure, Andalusian regional leader Juanma Moreno announced the resignation of his health minister, Rocío Hernández, on Wednesday evening (see social media link below).
Earlier in the day, government spokeswoman Carolina España said that 119 additional professionals would be assigned to strengthen breast cancer units and that a ‘thorough analysis’ was underway to determine exactly what went wrong.
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Miles de andaluzas protestan por los fallos en el cribado de cáncer de mama y la Junta anuncia “renovación” https://t.co/dk9jma9h9F pic.twitter.com/6sGCuEksEz
— Europa Press TV (@europapress_tv) October 8, 2025
Amama, sobre la dimisión de la consejera de Sanidad andaluza: “No me vale. Hay que tener claro que él busca la supervivencia política pero nosotras buscamos la supervivencia humana (…) El problema no es de puestos, el problema es que el SAS está destruido” #LaHora9O pic.twitter.com/1J4CKKMQDZ
— La Hora de La 1 (@LaHoraTVE) October 9, 2025
Comienza a esta hora un concentración de protesta por la polémica con los cribados de cáncer de mama en Andalucía.
Ángela Claverol, presidenta de Amama: “Seguiremos en pie por la lucha por defender nuestra salud y nuestras vidas”.
▶#Canal24horas: https://t.co/0Ix6dDsBAd pic.twitter.com/8Bv5QQYjyX— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) October 8, 2025
🔴 Esta tarde he aceptado la dimisión de la consejera de Salud y Consumo.
Hemos cambiado el protocolo del cribado del cáncer de mama aprobado en 2011 y ya está en marcha el plan de choque para que queden resueltas todas las incidencias. pic.twitter.com/hUkmhHZJlF
— Juanma Moreno (@JuanMa_Moreno) October 8, 2025
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