The Canary Islands University Hospital is one of the most important healthcare centres in the region. It is considered a third-level hospital, the highest in the healthcare complexity scale, making it a highly specialized and referential hospital. On the island, only the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria has a similar level of importance.
Additionally, nearby is the School of Health Sciences, where students of Medicine, Physiotherapy, and Nursing receive their education. It also offers various doctorate and master’s programs. These facts make the situation of the surrounding areas of the Canary Islands University Hospital incomprehensible.
At the rear of the hospital’s parking building, there is a clearly abandoned embankment that accumulates all kinds of garbage inside. With an area similar to that of a football field, this land was fenced off for a long time with metal protections that prevented seeing inside. However, the replacement of these fences has exposed the terrible situation.
Garbage floods land near the Canary Islands University Hospital / El Día
Used mattresses with sheets from the Canary Islands Health Service, wooden pallets, corroded and rusted metal elements, and general garbage are scattered throughout this land, which was once used as an outdoor parking area for the hospital before the construction of the current parking building. From the top of this parking area, one can see a panoramic view of the neglected land, abandoned for years.
The proximity of such a place to one of the most important healthcare centres in the Canary Islands, which receives thousands of patients daily, makes it a very concerning point of unhealthiness.
Finca la Multa, facing the same issues
On the other side of the Canary Islands University Hospital lies the neighbourhood of Finca la Multa, mostly situated in the municipality of San Cristóbal de La Laguna. A place where numerous houses and a large private parking area are accompanied by roaming roosters, overgrown weeds, poorly asphalted sidewalks and roads, with cracks and some potholes.
Along the border between Santa Cruz and La Laguna, the latter municipality has been working on the area in recent times. A cleaning spree on the access road to the Canary Islands University Hospital was the first step in improving an area where thousands of patients pass through each day.
The Santa Cruz City Council has also taken action to clean up the areas under its jurisdiction. Both councils are now working to find the best way to remove the wild animals that inhabit Finca la Multa, with roosters dominating the area.
These places, which should be in a perfect state of healthiness, have become areas of high concern for those living around the Canary Islands University Hospital or visiting it for medical reasons.
