Hospital del Sur Hot Water Outage: Maintenance Blamed Amid Negligence Claims
Canary Islands' Hospital del Sur experienced a hot water outage, which the Health Ministry blamed on maintenance work, prompting strong criticism and demands for action from the Más por Arona party.
The Canary Islands Health Ministry announced yesterday that the lack of hot water at Hospital del Sur was caused by "maintenance work on the plumbing system on the ground floor." The political party Más por Arona had reported the issue last Monday.
Ministry officials told this newspaper that the problem was a "specific incident" that would be resolved "shortly." They also assured that patients needing hot water were being provided with assisted baths.
However, Más por Arona stated that "numerous" patients at the hospital were forced "to shower with cold water or not to shower" due to the absence of hot water. Luis García, the party's spokesperson, commented: "These are patients, people in vulnerable situations, overcoming complicated situations, and they deserve to be treated with dignity and enjoy minimum services to make their stay at the center more bearable." He called the situation "unacceptable and unjustifiable in 2025."
Más por Arona is demanding an "immediate" explanation from Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo. They also want "urgent measures" to restore the service and a "firm commitment" to prevent such situations from happening again. The party spokesperson emphasized the "enormous seriousness" of the hot water outage. He blamed it on "manifest negligence" by the regional government, formed by Coalición Canaria and Partido Popular, for "failing to guarantee such a basic and essential service in a public healthcare center."