The Hospital del Sur takes another step in its long career to become a reference hospital center, third level, like the HUC and La Candelaria, with a new expansion of land to complete the services that the population has been demanding for three decades from the south of Tenerife.
The agreement between the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildo will allow El Mojón to have almost 50,000 more square meters and for the expansion works to begin before the end of the year, with an initial budget of 40 million euros, as signed yesterday.
The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, and the President of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, together with the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, initialed in the facilities of the Hospital del Sur, the second addendum to the collaboration agreement on the settlement of reciprocal obligations arising from the construction of the hospital and socio-sanitary complex in the south-southwest area of Tenerife and the specialized care center (CAE), as well as the transfer of property.
This new agreement between public administrations gives free rein to the open process of expanding the Hospital del Sur, a plan that already has a draft and for which an investment of around 40 million euros is expected by the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS). ).
The fitting out of the new infrastructure to integrate into this complex and the implementation of more health services will mean the expansion of the existing activity and the incorporation of new medical services, such as the adult and pediatric ICU, the dialysis unit and the hospital by day, among others.
During his visit to the Hospital del Sur, the president of the Canary Islands held a first meeting with managers of the SCS and the Cabildo de Tenerife, with the presence of the insular president, Pedro Martín; the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo; the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena; the director of the SCS, Elizabeth Hernández; the island councilor for Social Action, Marián Franquet, and the manager of the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital, Natacha Sujanani, among other attendees.
This working meeting was followed by a second, after the incorporation to the previous table of members of the Platform for the Public Hospital of the South, a group headed by its spokesman, Jordi Esplugas.
The president of the Canary Islands stressed that “it is a work between different administrations that we culminated today after the process of transferring 22 million euros from the autonomous government to the Cabildo”, together with the exchange of several plots, which will make it possible to expand this health complex with a planned investment of 40 million euros.
In addition, he indicated that “we have been with the Platform for the Public Hospital of the South, of which one of its members affirmed that this was the best day of years of struggle. It is true that they will continue to be vigilant and that we would have liked to sign this second addendum sooner, but it has not been easy. Therefore, today is a very important day for the southern region of Tenerife, for the entire island, for public health and to respond to the people of this place, who will have a broader portfolio of services, with care units intensive care units (ICU), pediatrics or to double the number of hospitalization beds”.
The president of the Canary Islands maintained that “this is already unstoppable; It cannot be stopped, because it is closed with today’s signature and with the budget commitment, with own and European funds, and from the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism”.
In his response, Torres said that today “is a day to be happy to close a fight and a long-standing commitment. I want to thank the former Health Minister, Teresa Cruz, for her work, because she saw with the Cabildo the need to reformulate this agreement, to turn it around, to make it better. Today is proof that if the administrations agree, things work and end up giving results, ”she stressed.
The advance of the South Hospital of #Tenerife it is unstoppable. Today we signed the 2nd addendum to the agreement with @CabildoTenerife. We completed the transfer of €22 million and carried out the exchange of the council building that will be used for the hospital, for the land for a social health center pic.twitter.com/FjP3gPlbQb
— Ángel Víctor Torres Pérez (@avtorresp) January 25, 2023
Martin and Mena
The president of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Pedro Martín, affirmed that “today a step is taken, which has to be the definitive one, to stop talking about a need and complete a real hospital.” In this sense, he highlighted “the commitment of the institutions with the Pro-Hospital del Sur Platform, which has been fighting for so many years to carry out this project”, and pointed out that this action not only has an initial budget of 40 million euros, “But it is estimated that the works could begin before the end of the year.”
Pedro Martín also explained that the Cabildo has handed over to the regional government a building in an advanced state of construction and has ceded land for a possible expansion in the future, “which will make it possible to improve the portfolio of services that the population of the south of the Island. Specifically, we are talking about increasing the number of beds, creating an Intensive Care Unit for adults and another for children, administering chemotherapy to cancer patients or expanding the emergency room. Improvements that will in turn result in the reference hospital, La Candelaria”.
In his address, the mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, stressed that today is a “great day on the road that has been traveled so that we have a great public hospital in the south of Tenerife, of the highest level. It has been a decades-long dream to which we are closer than ever, catching up with hospitals like La Candelaria or the HUC. The expansion of these facilities is an unparalleled expansion of the future portfolio of services”.
The Governing Council of the Canary Islands authorized the signing of this second addendum on December 29, at the proposal of the Ministry of Health. With this, a new building will be built that will increase the area of the current center by 20,000 square meters and another 8,000 of reorganization of spaces, until reaching a total area of 47,000 square meters.
