The Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands plans to put into operation in May the buildings intended to address emerging diseases such as coronavirus in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. This was confirmed this Monday by the department of the regional Executive, which also assured that The reception of the works will take place in the first days of next month. “Meanwhile, work has been done on the care and coordination protocols between the Insular and Doctor Negrín hospitals, in the case of Gran Canariasince patients referred from these centers will preferably be cared for, ”they explained from the health administration.
For this, it has been necessary organize referral hospital care servicesas well as all those related to logistics and information technology. The same has happened in Tenerifewhere they have also had to define the protocols and human Resources that will be used for the new benefit.
According to the same source, The purpose is to carry out a simulation of care for a patient suffering from the Marburg virus in the second week of May in both centers and, at the end of the same month, to be able to start the activity in the consultations. However, the definitive occupation of the Hospitalization area will take place in Junewhen the medical staff of the hospitals has been reinforced with the hiring of residents who complete their training period.
The purpose is to first make a simulation of care for a patient with the Marburg virus
It should be remembered that In Gran Canaria, the new infrastructure is located in the annex building to the Juan Carlos I Hospital – dependent center of the Doctor Negrín Hospital. The construction, with three heights and a ground floor that will be dedicated to waste treatment, has a surface area of 5,155 square meters. In total there are 92 hospitalization beds and another three for bereavement care. However, if the health situation requires it, some beds may be allocated to critically ill patients.
In Tenerife, the building is located in a space attached to the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital and consists of 4,800 square meters distributed over four floors. This center has 76 hospitalization beds, to which are added 14 day hospital positions.
The two constructions were presented at the beginning of last summer. The intention of the Ministry was that they could open their doors at the end of the season, but a series of setbacks delayed the process.
Already last February, the director of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Elizabeth Hernándezinformed this medium that the Ministry was still waiting for the construction company to deliver the buildings. «We are working on communication and, for three months, on the care protocol. Our forecast is that in the first weeks of March there will already be patients who can be referred to these centers, “he declared then.
The forecast is that the space attached to the Molina Orosa Hospital will begin to operate in the summer
These projects were born with the aim of boosting the capacity of the system, taking into account the chaotic scenario caused by the coronavirus pandemic. So much so that Two other performances are added to the initiative. One of them is the opening of a hospitalization building next to the Doctor José Molina Orosa Hospital. -in Lanzarote–, whose construction has already been completed, but many preparations still need to be finalized. “This work could not keep up with the same pace as those on the capital islands because it was affected by initial delays in the supply of materials, transportation, and logistics,” they detail. This space, which is also intended to provide care for infectious diseases, has It will have a surface area of 5,100 square meters and will have a hundred hospital beds. The forecasts indicate that You can start operating this summer.
The other action, on the other hand, culminated last September and consisted of the rehabilitation of floors 3 and 4 of the building D. of the University Hospital of Canary Islandswhich allowed the center to gain 44 beds.
Health has invested more than 47 million euros in the execution of these projects and in providing the infrastructures with the necessary equipment. The profile of the people who will receive assistance in these spaces is made up of those who suffer respiratory, infectious and emerging diseases, in addition to those afflicted with persistent covid.
