Tacoronte awaits the expansion and reform of its health center, whichtends to more than 30,000 people, since 2009. The brick crisis paralyzed the project, which was not resumed until 2017. Awarded in 2018, difficulties with the project and the winning company forced work to be stopped in the summer of 2021. The Minister of Health of the Government of Canary Islands, Blaise Trujillo, visited this week Tacoronte to announce that the work will finally resume in March, six months after the break, and that this health infrastructure may be in service “at the beginning of 2023.”
Trujillo toured the part of the health center that is still operational to learn about the consequences of the stoppage of works and announce that in his department they are “very hopeful and on the chopping block” for this action to conclude, “since it is a longing for all the residents of the area. The modification of the project will force to increase its cost, which will be financed by the regional government, which has “the necessary resources.”
The term granted to the company responsible for the work ends on January 5, 2023 and Health hopes that it will be fulfilled and that the extension of the Tacoronte Health Center be fully operational in the first weeks of next year. The mayor of Tacoronte, Jose Daniel Diaz (NC), acknowledges that the stoppage of these works “has greatly concerned” his government team (PSOE-NC-SSP), “so we requested several meetings with the Minister of Health and the director general responsible for them to inform us about the resumption of works”.
«We are satisfied that the counselor himself has come to visit us to explain the status of the file and the plans for the Ministry of Health, which go through resuming work as soon as possible. It is a historical demand for which we have been fighting for a long time,” said Díaz.
This health center was built more than 30 years ago, but at least since 2009 it was understood that it needed improvements and an extension to cover the needs of the region. The procedures that began 12 years ago were paralyzed by the brick crisis. It was not until 2017 when the project was reactivated. In that year, the writing was put out to tender and in 2018, the award of the work. The process ended on March 14, 2019. Shortly after, the expansion was awarded for 2.6 million, with an execution period of almost two years, which should have ended in June 2021.
820 square meters more
The reform allows the surface of the building to be increased by 820 square meters, which represents a growth of 35%, which will allow the installation of new services. It currently provides Primary Care services in the Tacoronte-El Sauzal Basic Health Zone, with 30,412 users with an Individual Health Card (TSI), and in the future it will offer some services for another 15,820 users in La Matanza and La Victoria de Acentejo.
In August 2021 there was a temporary stoppage of the works, which the regional deputy explained at the time Nira Fierro (PSOE) «It was due to a technical and administrative issue to modify the project and introduce improvements in the electrical installations». In September of last year, it was expected that the works could restart “shortly”, but it will take almost six months to resume again.
This expansion will allow for an additional 820 square meters to create a Continuous Care Point for emergencies; a physiotherapy unit and another Community Mental Health Unit, which will serve the 30,412 registered users with a health card in El Sauzal and Tacoronte, and the population of The Carnage and The Victory, which add up to 15,820 more people.
