Tenerife South Hospital Expansion Stalled, Protests Loom

The long-awaited expansion of the Hospital del Sur de Tenerife is still without a clear plan or a start date for construction. This information comes from the Platform for the Public Hospital of the South and Southwest of the Island. Because of this delay, the group is demanding that the project design be put out to tender immediately and that construction work be guaranteed to start by 2026. They warn that if this doesn't happen, they will restart protests similar to those held nearly 30 years ago, in 1996.

The Platform expressed its "discomfort with the standstill" of the tender process during a recent meeting with Adasat Goya, director of the Canarian Health Service. At this meeting, the group's representatives stated that people in the south of the island have run out of patience. In response, Óscar Díez, manager of the Nuestra Señora de Candelaria University Hospital, presented a basic plan for how services would be arranged after the surgical area is expanded. He also invited Platform members to visit the nearly finished expansion work at the Oncology Hospital.

The call for a main hospital in southern Tenerife goes back to 1978, when the Spanish Government set aside 70 million pesetas for its construction. Despite this, building didn't begin until 2005. Work stopped in 2011 when it was 80% complete, and only restarted in 2014. The Hospital del Sur opened in May 2015 when the El Mojón Care and Specialties Center (CAE) moved there, but its first 46 hospital beds didn't become available until July 2016.

Two years ago, officials announced a 40-million-euro investment to expand the Hospital del Sur, aiming to make it Tenerife's third main hospital. The plans included adding 20,000 square meters, bringing the total to 47,000, doubling the current 130 hospital beds, and adding more services and specialties. This would make it equal to the university hospitals of Canarias and Nuestra Señora de Candelaria. In January 2023, the Government of the Canary Islands, led by Ángel Víctor Torres, and the Cabildo de Tenerife, led by Pedro Martín, signed an agreement where the island council handed over land and a building for this expansion. That same year, it was announced that construction would begin right away.

However, the Canary Islands' budget for this year only allocates 800,000 euros to the Public Hospital of South Tenerife. The Platform calls this amount "insufficient," seeing it as a sign that the current government doesn't prioritize the expansion. The group highlights that instead of becoming a full hospital, the facility is being steered towards a social-health model, with about 60% of its beds meant for this type of care. This is a major concern in an area with many residents and a lot of tourism, where there's a critical need for acute hospital services.

The Platform, which has been campaigning for this hospital for three decades, is currently meeting with various groups in the south and southwest of Tenerife. They are speaking out against what they call an "unfair and unacceptable situation" and warn that citizens will not put up with any more delays.