The report stated that the figure accounts for a 12 percent increase over last year.

On average, people wait eight months for a consultation and more than ten months for surgery, although the wait is often longer.

The issue came to the fore again following the discovery of 300,000 consultations that were eliminated at the Sotero del Rio Hospital in this capital, anomalies in the surgical lists in Temuco, and letters from the Talca hospital found in the garbage informing patients of their exclusion from the lists.

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