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The Valencian Health Minister Marciano Gómez and Torrevieja Mayor Eduardo Dolón announced on Wednesday February 4 that the city will hand over 12,000 square metres of land to expand Torrevieja University Hospital.

 

But while the land transfer marks a step forward, the project currently has no budget and no detailed plan for what will actually be built.

 

It all comes in response to years of complaints from campaigners who say the hospital and its health centres are buckling under the pressure of serving more than 220,000 registered patients from ten municipalities along the coast and inland areas of the Vega Baja.

 

The minister couldn't say exactly what the expansion would include but suggested it would likely involve a bigger surgical block, more outpatient clinics and additional hospital beds.

 

However, the land transfer itself hasn't even been formalised yet and the proposal is still in its early stages.

 

"We are going to work on a functional plan that we will present before the summer, where the expansion will be clearly explained with the number of beds, operating rooms and central services for this hospital, not only for the near future, but also for the distant future that we think we must plan for the growth of this city, for the growth of this department," Mr Gómez said.

 

The expansion won't be built on the current health centre site, which still has unused land at the back near the Natural Park and lagoon. Instead, the new facilities will go on land between the existing hospital and the Torrevieja desalination plant.

 

The process starts with the developer behind a planned 2,000-home housing project in Sector 29, which sits on agricultural land. As part of the development, the builder must hand over land for public facilities and this is where the hospital expansion will be located. The planning application still needs approval from the town's governing board, advisory committee and full council, according to Mayor Dolón.

 

Given the urgency and need to expand the healthcare capacity of Torrevieja Hospital, the Ministry already put out to tender last January a €3.7 million contract to add modular buildings for outpatient consultations and rehabilitation, as well as expanding the haemodialysis unit.

 

The announcement comes just three days before a protest organised by the Platform for Public and Quality Health, which has spent years highlighting serious failings in healthcare across the Torrevieja department. According to the group, the problems pre-date the hospital's return to public management at the end of 2021.

 

Their complaints range from waits of more than 15 days for a first GP appointment at most health centres in the area to desperate delays for specialist treatment and surgery. They claim hospitals routinely close appointment slots to manipulate waiting list figures, a tactic they say is used across the public health system wherever delays are running high.

 

The protest is set for Saturday February 7 at 11.30am in Torrevieja's Plaza de la Constitución. Buses have already been organised from Los Montesinos, Guardamar, San Miguel de Salinas and Torremendo to bring supporters to the rally.

 

 

Image: Archive