What does the donation mean for tourists and residents?

Nothing changes for tourists or residents. There are no new prices, rules or deadlines, and the machine is not on Tenerife but in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria.

Nobody can apply for the machine, because it is not a service for the general public. According to the Gobierno de Canarias (Canarian regional government), a clinical assessment decides which patients use it.

The unit belongs to the public health service, the Servicio Canario de la Salud. Nobody has confirmed whether patients from Tenerife will be referred there, and rules for EU visitors were not checked.

Who paid for the machine, and why?

The dockers of Las Palmas raised the money out of their own pockets. It went through the Fundación Belén María (Belén María Foundation), which recently won the Premio Puertos (Ports Prize).

Maximiliano Díaz, president of the dockers' collective, started the idea. Injured colleagues had told him that Nesa helped them in private physiotherapy centres, but the public health service does not pay for the treatment.

Díaz put the matter to the dockers' assembly. According to his account, it voted unanimously to set aside money from wages.

The collective has done this before: in 2021 the Canary dockers gave 30,000 euros for the victims of the volcano on La Palma, according to RTVC (the Canarian broadcaster). Each worker pays a percentage of monthly pay into a shared fund for such causes.

How does the Nesa Xsignal work?

Through electrodes placed on different parts of the body, the Nesa sends very weak electrical microcurrents into the body. According to the Gobierno de Canarias, it acts on the autonomic nervous system, which controls rest, stress response, pain, circulation and recovery.

The authority calls the method comfortable and non-invasive. It is meant to support patients' rehab and does not replace existing therapies.

Our research found no proof that it works. Claims about the benefit come from patients and the hospital, and no study was reviewed.

Who are the men behind the donation?

José Martín, 48, was a docker and a top-level wrestler. In 2017, after a competition, he slipped by a pool at a villa on Fuerteventura, broke his neck and was flown by helicopter to Gran Canaria.

For three months he could not move, and in the fourth month an arm stirred. He now walks with crutches and says: “Ir a comprar el pan solo me pone feliz”, roughly: just going out to buy bread makes him happy.

Samuel Gelbert, 51, was diagnosed with a spinal cord tumour in 2022. After emergency surgery in January 2023 he woke up fully paralysed, and after about nine months in hospital he was one of the first to use the exoskeleton robot.

Gelbert criticises the authorities. He says the hospital turned down a loan of the Nesa because it would have had to pay for the consumables.

Gilberto Vieira, 69, was injured at work in the port on 11 July 2011. A pallet broke during a crane manoeuvre, twelve crates of 24 kilos each hit his back, and he now walks with crutches.

How does the unit for spinal cord injuries work?

Meet the Unidad de Lesionados Medulares (spinal cord injury unit). It began operating in 2000.

According to RTVC, falls are the most common cause of such injuries. Those affected are mostly young people after sports or road accidents.

The unit already works with exoskeletons, virtual reality headsets and biotechnology. Section head José Luis Méndez told RTVC that four specialists used to be needed for a few steps, while one physiotherapist is enough today.

The unit put the Atlante X exoskeleton robot into service in November 2023. At that time, according to RTVC, only three such devices existed in Spain's public hospitals, and a session lasts about 45 minutes.

Which dates and open questions remain?

In July 2026 the unit received the “Excelencia en Humanización” (excellence in humanisation) award. It also won a Premio Solidario (solidarity prize) from the ONCE group in the Canaries in the public administration category.

The awards ceremony takes place on 26 November 2026 at the Teatro Guiniguada in Las Palmas. It is the only date our research found.

Several questions remain open. The installation date, the number of devices and the date of the first treatment are not known.