Some 10,000 neighbors from the town of The cookies have returned to square one when it comes to health care, after decades waiting for a health center that, until just recently eight monthsseemed closer than ever.
The reality of this nucleus is very representative of what happened with the infrastructures of the South, a metropolitan area that has multiplied its population in 30 years, but that has almost the same public services.
In April of this same year, the then Minister of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands, Blas Trujillo, and mayor of Arona, José Julián Mena, visited a premises of about 1,400 square meters in the Ten Bel tower that, located on a ground floor , could house the new peripheral clinic, thus responding to a historical demand from the neighbors.
The only doubt was to certify that the use of the premises was, from an urban planning point of view, compatible with the toilet, something that, in fact, the City Council did months later.
That is to say, the facilities had the legal blessings to house the health center in an area like the Las Galletas area, where there is hardly any land available that is compatible, because Arona does not have a new general plan and the It is in force and contemplates the reality of the municipality as it was thirty years ago. The offer that the owner of the premises made to the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands was for a rental with an option to purchase.
However, its sources assure that, after putting all this on the table, and with the change produced at the regional level, they have not received a response to their offer and there has not been any meeting with the regional department.
The place of
gym is
almost finished
In fact, the facilities, located next to the iconic Ten Bel tower, have been developed and, currently, the upper floor is almost finished, ready to house a modern gym. The lower part, however, is boarded up and about to go on the market in the absence of a statement from the Ministry.
Official sources from the latter assured yesterday, after several consultations, that “the Canarian Health Service is waiting for the City Council to offer an optimal plot of land for use as a health center and that is adapted to the healthcare demands of the municipality.” .
This, therefore, shelves the Ten Bel option, which is not the first that had been explored, since, previously, the use of a premises that had belonged to a banking entity, located in the same nerve center, was contemplated. from Las Galletas.
The former headquarters of a bank in Las Galletas
In September 2021, the then vice president of the Government of the Canary Islands, Román Rodríguez, was also with the former mayor, who visited the other location proposed by the City Council and began procedures.
Specifically, the General Directorate of Heritage and Contracting – a body attached to the Ministry of Finance – began a study to determine the viability of that building as a new health center, either through the rehabilitation of the property or its replacement with another in the same plot.
Román Rodríguez himself – a doctor by training – explained that the one in Las Galletas reminded him of the medical offices in the Canary Islands thirty years ago.
Almost everyone agrees that this center does not meet the minimum conditions to provide health care in a dignified and dimensioned manner to the 10,000 inhabitants that the population already has.
