Ibiza’s ambulance service risks collapse due to callouts to clubs, says union

The ambulance service on the Spanish island of Ibiza says it is at risk of collapse because of frequent callouts to attend to clubbers having bad experiences with recreational drugs.

The local ambulance union says up to a third of emergency calls are to clubs, the largest of which has a capacity of as many as 10,000 partygoers, and are largely drug-related. It is calling on club owners to contract private ambulance services.

“It’s inconceivable that businesses with an income of millions of euros a year can’t provide this service which is saturating the emergency services at the expense of the local population,” the president of the local health services union, José Manuel Maroto, told elDiario.es.

“The clubs are obliged to employ nurses and other health workers but not ambulances, the cost if which is borne by public services,” he said, adding that it was unjust that the island’s 161,000 residents should receive an inferior service because of the demands of 3.6 million annual visitors.

According to Maroto, only one major club, DC-10, uses a private service.

The island, part of the hippy trail in the 1970s, has been a mecca for clubbers since the early 1980s. The pioneering clubs were Amnesia and Pacha, but dozens have sprung up since, making the dance scene – and the drugs that fuel it – a major part of Ibiza’s tourism industry.

The Hollywood star Will Smith was at the inauguration last month of UNVRS, the island’s biggest club, where the cheapest entry is €100 (£86) and a drink can cost €25.

According to the regional government, tourists to the island spend €1.5 of every €10 on the dancefloor, but many clubbers complain the scene is now all about money and big-name DJs who command enormous appearance fees.

A study by the local paper El Diario de Ibiza found that the island is the third most expensive destination in the Mediterranean after Saint-Tropez and Capri.

Much of the money goes to a company founded by the former footballer and politician Abel Matutes.

The Matutes family, the most powerful on Ibiza, as well as owning numerous hotels in Spain, Mexico and the US, owns three of the island’s biggest party venues, Ushuaïa, Hï Ibiza and UNVRS.

Drugs are a major part of the informal economy and large busts are common. More than a million MDMA doses were recovered in a single raid last year.

A study published in European Psychiatry found that there were 58 drug-related deaths on Ibiza between 2010 and 2016 with the largest proportion (36%) being young Britons.