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Children's health in Madrid

Madrid's public system cares well for children and resembles the French system on the essentials: an assigned paediatrician up to age 14 at the local centro de salud, one health card per person, nothing to pay upfront, and free choice of doctor and hospital. The differences: everything goes through the empadronamiento and the centro de salud, and the vaccine schedule adds chickenpox. Here is how it works, with checked addresses and the official list of French-speaking practitioners.

Verified on 30 October 2026

How Madrid's health system works

A tax-funded public system run by the Comunidad de Madrid (Servicio Madrileño de Salud, SERMAS): the INSS recognises the right to care, the health card embodies it, and the centro de salud is the front door. Private care, very common, is mainly a way to go faster.

Good to know

  • The individual health card is the key to Madrid's public system. It is issued to residents whom the INSS recognises as insured (affiliated employees, benefit recipients) or as an insured person's beneficiaries: spouse and children under 26 living in Spain. Source
  • Primary care paediatricians look after children up to age 14, for acute and chronic illness alike, and run the healthy-child check-ups with the nurse, including growth, feeding and vaccines. Source
  • Free choice is the rule: family doctor, paediatrician and nurse can be changed at any time without justification, and you also choose the hospital and specialist when referred. You must be registered (empadronado) in the Comunidad de Madrid to use this right. Source
  • Nothing to pay upfront and nothing to claim back: public consultations, emergencies and hospital stays are free. Only prescribed medicines carry a co-payment, proportional to income (40 to 60% of the price for working people), with your rate shown in your virtual health card. Source
  • Many families add private insurance (Sanitas, Adeslas, Asisa, DKV, Mapfre...) for direct access to specialists and private clinic emergency rooms. Keep the public health card anyway: it gives access to the scheduled vaccines, the major reference hospitals and local paediatrics.

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Health card, centro de salud and paediatrician

First health step, before anyone is ill: request each family member's health card at the centro de salud for your address. A paediatrician is assigned there, and they will follow your children until they turn 14.

Good to know

  • What to bring: ID or residence document (for under-14s, the family record book or a full birth certificate is enough), a volante de empadronamiento less than 90 days old, and the healthcare entitlement document issued by the INSS. If you live in the city of Madrid, you can authorise a check of the padrón instead of bringing the volante. Source
  • You apply at your assigned centro de salud during public opening hours (8.30am to 8.30pm). Online applications are currently suspended for maintenance: plan on going in person. For a minor, only parents or guardians can apply, with proof of the relationship. Source
  • For an EU national, the health card is valid as long as the EU citizen registration certificate; the Tarjeta Sanitaria Virtual on your phone shows your Social Security number, your assigned professionals and your medicine co-payment rate. Source
  • Paediatrician appointments are booked on the cita previa website, in the free Cita Sanitaria Madrid app, by phoning the centre number on the back of the card, or in person. For a child, you enter the responsible adult's DNI or NIE; a passport number is not accepted. Source
  • Bring the French health record (carnet de santé) to the first appointment: the paediatrician and nurse record the vaccines already given and adjust the Madrid schedule. Scheduled healthy-child check-ups are booked by phone or in person, not online. Source

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Emergencies and children's hospitals

One number, 112, and two levels: primary-care urgent care centres for nights and weekends, and hospital paediatric emergency departments, led by Niño Jesús and La Paz. Keep the child's health card with you.

Good to know

  • 112 is the single European emergency number, run in the region by the Madrid 112 centre: it coordinates medical help, fire, rescue and police, and takes calls in more than 80 languages, French included. Source
  • When the centro de salud is closed, the Comunidad de Madrid has 80 out-of-hospital urgent care centres open evenings, nights, weekends and public holidays, staffed by doctors and nurses; SUMMA 112 handles urgent home visits. The centre assigned to you is shown on your health card sticker. Source
  • The Niño Jesús hospital emergency department sees under-18s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with 65,000 to 70,000 visits a year and more than 300 children on peak winter days. Triage is by severity, not arrival order; the hospital asks families to come with no more than two adults and to see the paediatrician first for anything non-urgent. Source
  • The big public hospitals each have a mother-and-child hospital with separate paediatric emergency departments: La Paz in the north, Gregorio Marañón in the centre-east, 12 de Octubre in the south. With free choice, you can go to whichever suits you; private clinics treat members of their insurers' networks. Source

Addresses

  • Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús

    Emergency

    Avenida de Menéndez Pelayo, 65, 28009 Madrid (Retiro)

    Madrid's historic children's hospital, on the edge of the Retiro: emergencies for under-18s 24 hours a day on the ground floor, with direct access from calle Menéndez Pelayo. Ibiza metro.

    Website Source

  • Hospital Universitario La Paz, Hospital Infantil

    Emergency

    Paseo de la Castellana, 261, 28046 Madrid

    The big public campus in the north, closest to Chamartín, Hortaleza and La Moraleja: children's hospital with paediatric emergencies, every speciality and a maternity unit. Begoña metro.

    Website Source

  • Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Materno-Infantil

    Emergency

    Calle de O'Donnell, 48, 28009 Madrid

    The Marañón mother-and-child hospital, east of the Retiro: a large, separate maternal and paediatric emergency area, with neonatal and paediatric intensive care on the same floor as the delivery rooms.

    Website Source

  • Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Materno-Infantil

    Emergency

    Avenida de Córdoba, s/n, 28041 Madrid

    The large public hospital in the south of Madrid, with its mother-and-child hospital: paediatrics, obstetrics and the regional breast-milk bank. Doce de Octubre metro and commuter station.

    Website Source

  • Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe

    Hospital

    Avenida de Montepríncipe, 25, 28660 Boadilla del Monte

    The private hospital of the west, halfway between Pozuelo and Villanueva de la Cañada: paediatrics from birth to adolescence and maternity; accessed through the main private insurers.

    Website Source

  • Hospital Universitario La Moraleja

    Hospital

    Avenida de Francisco Pi y Margall, 81, Madrid (Sanchinarro)

    The private hospital of the north (Sanitas group), between Sanchinarro and La Moraleja: paediatric A&E, a paediatrician on site 24 hours a day for inpatients, and neonatal and paediatric intensive care.

    Website Source

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French-speaking doctors, dentists and therapists

The French embassy and consulates in Spain publish a notoriety list of French-speaking professionals, with a medical and paramedical section for Madrid, updated on 27 October 2026. It is provided for information, without liability on the part of the administration, and you remain free to choose. We list the practitioners most useful to families, completed by the public list of lepetitjournal.com Madrid. Most work privately.

Good to know

  • The official Madrid list has about fifteen practitioners: four GPs, three of them medical advisers to the consulate, three dentists, a gynaecologist, a neurologist and paediatric neurologist, an ophthalmologist, a child psychiatrist and three physiotherapists; the administration takes no position on quality or fees. Source
  • lepetitjournal.com Madrid keeps a wider list, updated in March 2026, built on the consulate's and adding French-speaking paediatricians, dentists, child psychologists, osteopaths and physiotherapists; practitioners are listed by the editorial team. Source
  • These consultations are paid, sometimes covered by a private insurer that has the practitioner in its network. For public care, ask your centro de salud whether a paediatrician speaks French: thanks to free choice, you can then name them as your child's paediatrician. Source

Addresses

  • Dr Clément Jean Duroux

    General practitioner

    Consultations uniquement à domicile, Madrid

    Medical adviser to the consulate, general and emergency medicine, home visits only: the go-to when a child falls ill and the centro de salud is closed.

    Website Source

  • Dr Maria Ángeles Bascones

    Paediatrician

    Consultations uniquement à domicile, Madrid

    Medical adviser to the consulate, general medicine and paediatrics, home visits only.

    Source

  • Dr Dominique Grauvogel

    General practitioner

    Retiro, Calle de O'Donnell 8, 28009

    Medical adviser to the consulate, general practice, surgery near the Retiro.

    Source

  • Dr Cécile Boutry

    General practitioner

    Salamanca, Clínica de Vergara, Calle Príncipe de Vergara 30, 28001

    GP for adults and children, consultations at Clínica de Vergara and home visits.

    Website Source

  • Dr Francisco Croche

    Paediatrician

    Visites à domicile et consultations dans plusieurs cabinets de Madrid

    Paediatrician and childcare specialist, also a GP, on lepetitjournal.com's list of French-speaking doctors.

    Source

  • Dr Lorenzo Abarca

    Paediatrician

    Prosperidad, Edificio Torres Blancas, Avenida de América 37, 28002

    French-speaking paediatrician, surgery in the Torres Blancas tower, between Chamartín and Salamanca.

    Source

  • Dr Eric Le Beller

    Dentist

    Hortaleza, 28043

    Dentist from the consulate list, dental clinic in Hortaleza, the Lycée français neighbourhood.

    Website Source

  • Dr Mya Choufani et Dr Víctor Begara

    Dentist

    Barajas, Clínica CLOE, Avenida de los Prunos 5-7, 28042

    Specialist dental clinic: paediatric dentistry, orthodontics, cosmetic work and implants.

    Website Source

  • Dr Ángel Mateo

    Dentist

    Chamberí, Calle Raimundo Fernández Villaverde 26, 28003

    Dentist from the consulate list, practice in Chamberí.

    Source

  • Dr Ruth García Álvarez

    Dentist

    Justicia (Chueca), Calle del Almirante 11, 28004

    Dentist from the consulate list, practice a few streets from the consulate.

    Source

  • Dr Gema Chamorro Barreda

    Psychologist

    Centro, Plaza de Santo Domingo 1, 28014

    Child and adolescent psychiatrist from the consulate list.

    Website Source

  • Laurence Parnier

    Psychologist

    San Blas, Calle de Alcalá 551, 28027

    Psychologist and psychotherapist for children, teenagers and adults, specialising in child therapy, in French and Spanish.

    Website Source

  • Dr Sarai Urtiaga Valle

    Fuencarral-El Pardo, Calle de La Masó 38, 28034

    Neurologist and paediatric neurologist from the consulate list.

    Source

  • Javier Gallego Prados

    Retiro, Avenida del Mediterráneo 7, 28007

    Physiotherapist from the consulate list, specialising in paediatric respiratory physiotherapy (bronchiolitis) and the Mézières method.

    Website Source

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Pregnancy and maternity units

In the public system, a low-risk pregnancy is followed by the midwife (matrona) at your centro de salud, together with the hospital; thanks to free choice, you can give birth in the public maternity unit of your choice. Spain's birth leave is one of the most generous in Europe for both parents.

Good to know

  • Every woman has an assigned midwife at her centro de salud, seen without going through the family doctor: pre-conception consultation, low-risk pregnancy follow-up, vaccination during pregnancy, antenatal classes and support after perinatal loss. Appointments through Cita Sanitaria Madrid, the Tarjeta Sanitaria Virtual or by phone. Source
  • Your reference hospital depends on your family doctor, but free choice extends to the hospital: you can ask to be followed and give birth at La Paz, Gregorio Marañón or 12 de Octubre, all with neonatal intensive care. With private insurance, check the maternity waiting period. Source
  • Birth leave (permiso por nacimiento y cuidado de menor) is 19 weeks per parent, paid at 100% of the contribution base by the INSS: 17 weeks in the child's first year and 2 more weeks to take before age 8; 32 plus 4 weeks for single-parent families. It is an individual, non-transferable right. Source
  • Before leaving the maternity unit, ask for the birth certificate; the birth is declared to the Spanish civil registry, often from the public hospital, and the French transcription is then requested at the consulate. Then come the baby's empadronamiento, registration as a Social Security beneficiary and health card. Newborns receive RSV immunisation at the maternity unit during the season. Source

Addresses

  • Hospital Universitario La Paz, Maternidad

    Maternity

    Paseo de la Castellana, 261, 28046 Madrid

    The historic maternity unit of northern Madrid, within La Paz's mother-and-child hospital, where more than 700,000 children have been born: obstetrics, maternal-fetal medicine and neonatology, with the children's hospital on site.

    Website Source

  • Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Materno-Infantil

    Maternity

    Calle de O'Donnell, 48, 28009 Madrid

    Delivery rooms where mother and baby stay together from the immediate postpartum, operating theatres, neonatal and paediatric intensive care on the same floor; separate maternal and paediatric emergencies.

    Website Source

  • Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Materno-Infantil

    Maternity

    Avenida de Córdoba, s/n, 28041 Madrid

    Southern Madrid's mother-and-child centre: obstetrics and gynaecology, children's hospital and the Aladina regional breast-milk bank.

    Website Source

  • Hospital Universitario HM Montepríncipe, Maternidad

    Maternity

    Avenida de Montepríncipe, 25, 28660 Boadilla del Monte

    The private maternity unit of the west, near Pozuelo and the Molière: pregnancy and postpartum care, on-site paediatrics; through private insurers.

    Website Source

  • Dr Marta Suárez Rodríguez, gynécologue

    Chamberí, Calle Andrés Mellado 87, 28003

    French-speaking gynaecologist from the consulate list: gynaecological and pregnancy care in French.

    Website Source

  • Begoña Caldera Brea, rééducation périnéale

    Retiro, Avenida del Mediterráneo 7, 28007

    French-speaking physiotherapist specialising in pelvic floor rehabilitation and obstetrics, during pregnancy and after birth.

    Source

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Pharmacies and medicines

Green-cross farmacias are everywhere and pharmacists happily advise on minor ailments. Children's paracetamol is Apiretal, ibuprofen syrup is Dalsy, and your French prescription is in principle valid, as long as a Spanish pharmacist can read it.

Good to know

  • The Comunidad de Madrid has nearly 3,000 pharmacies, including duty pharmacies open at night, at weekends and on public holidays: each pharmacy displays the one covering for it, and the Madrid College of Pharmacists publishes a pharmacy finder. Source
  • Equivalents: Apiretal (paracetamol drops) for French children's Doliprane, Dalsy (ibuprofen syrup) for Advil, 'suero fisiológico' for saline, 'agua de mar' for nasal rinse. Antibiotics and many syrups are prescription-only.
  • A prescription from a French doctor is valid throughout the EU if it includes at least: patient's name and date of birth, date, prescriber's name, qualification, contact details and signature, the generic name of the medicine, form, quantity and dosage. The medicine may not exist under the same name: ask for a generic-name prescription. Source
  • Medicines prescribed in the public system are collected with the health card at any pharmacy in the region, thanks to e-prescriptions: you pay the share matching your co-payment rate, which you can check in the Tarjeta Sanitaria Virtual. Source
  • Pharmacies also sell formula milk, nappies and toiletries, often cheaper in supermarkets; paracetamol and ibuprofen, however, are only sold in pharmacies, never in supermarkets.

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Vaccines: how the schedule differs from France

Madrid's 2026 schedule is close to France's, with two visible additions: chickenpox for every child and flu every autumn for young children. Nothing is compulsory, and vaccines are given free at the centro de salud.

Good to know

  • Babies: hexavalent (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, Hib, hepatitis B) and pneumococcal at 2, 4 and 11 months; meningococcal B at 2, 4 and 12 months; rotavirus at 2 and 4 months; RSV antibody for newborns during the season, from October. Source
  • At 12 months: measles-mumps-rubella and meningococcal ACWY (replacing meningococcal C since 1 January 2026); chickenpox at 15 months; a combined second measles-mumps-rubella-chickenpox dose at 3; diphtheria-tetanus-whooping cough-polio booster at 6; at 12, meningococcal ACWY and a single HPV dose, for girls and boys. Source
  • Two differences that surprise French parents: chickenpox is on Madrid's schedule but not France's; and flu vaccine is offered every autumn to children aged 6 months to 7 years in the 2026-2027 campaign, which opened on 5 October. Unlike Catalonia, hepatitis A is not on the routine schedule. Source
  • In Spain, no vaccine is required for school or nursery; in France, eleven vaccinations are compulsory for young children. Bring the carnet de santé to the centro de salud: the nurse records the doses received and arranges catch-up, including chickenpox if you wish to follow the local schedule. Source
  • Where to vaccinate: at every SERMAS centro de salud and consultorio, at Madrid city health centres and at accredited private centres; the Comunidad de Madrid Vaccination Centre sees patients by appointment, and international vaccination centres advise before travel. Source

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These landmarks do not replace the advice of a health professional. In an emergency, call the local emergency number shown above.

A place has closed, something has changed? Tell us: the mums of Madrid will thank you.

Sources for this page

The public pages these landmarks come from. The official website always prevails.

  1. 1 Ambassade et consulats de France en Espagne, professionnels francophones (liste de notoriété)
  2. 2 lepetitjournal.com Madrid, la liste des médecins francophones
  3. 3 Comunidad de Madrid, la carte sanitaire
  4. 4 Comunidad de Madrid, libre choix sanitaire
  5. 5 Hospital Infantil Universitario Niño Jesús, urgences
  6. 6 Comunidad de Madrid, calendrier de vaccination et d'immunisation 2026
  7. 7 La Moncloa, congé de naissance élargi à 19 semaines
  8. 8 BOE, Real Decreto-ley 16/2012 (participation aux médicaments)

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