The San Bartolomé City Council denounces that the expansion of the Playa Honda Health Center does not have a specific, identifiable budget item in the draft General Budget of the Canary Islands Autonomous Community for 2027, after years of institutional and citizen demands to make a reality of a health infrastructure that has land and a technical project, but continues without sufficient funding to guarantee its execution.
The mayor of San Bartolomé, Isidro Pérez, questions the actions of the Ministry of Health of the Government of the Canary Islands and demands explanations from both the regional executive and Coalición Canaria for the lack of progress on an infrastructure that he considers essential to meet the needs of a constantly growing population.
“What is happening with the Playa Honda Health Center is a lack of respect for our neighbors. We have been demanding a necessary infrastructure for years, seeing how amounts are allocated that do not correspond to the real cost of its execution and verifying that the project continues to make no progress. Now, in the 2027 draft, we don't even find a specific item. We want to know what is happening and when a definitive solution will be provided,” states Isidro Pérez.
The San Bartolomé City Council recalls that the project has ceded land and a technical project developed years ago, whose budget was around eight million euros and for which only budgetary financing is needed, therefore it considers it essential that the Government of the Canary Islands specify an adequate financial sheet and an execution calendar. “This City Council has fulfilled its responsibilities. We have made the land available and there is a technical project. What we need is for the Ministry of Health to explain what actions remain pending, what funding it will guarantee, and when it intends to execute an infrastructure that Playa Honda has been waiting for years,” affirms the mayor.
“It is unacceptable that the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and deputy of Coalición Canaria, Oswaldo Betancort, publicly questioned the economic dimension of the project during an intervention in the Parliament of the Canary Islands, in 2025,” explains the mayor Isidro Pérez. “All presidents of the Cabildos must fight and defend the needs of each of their municipalities, but it seems that in the case of San Bartolomé, this is not the case. What we expect from the president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote is that he defend the healthcare investments that the island needs and that he contribute to finding solutions to unblock this infrastructure,” argues Pérez.
“It is not enough to say that a project is too big. If the Government of the Canary Islands considers that it should be modified, it must explain why, present a technically justified alternative, and guarantee its financing. What cannot happen is that this debate is prolonged for years while the neighbors continue to wait,” he adds.
The San Bartolomé City Council recalls that the expansion of the Playa Honda Health Center is a historic demand of the municipality, conveyed for years to regional authorities through numerous institutional efforts, meetings, and public complaints. To these demands, the mobilization of the neighbors themselves has been added, who have participated in informational meetings and promoted a signature collection with thousands of supporters to demand that the existing project be funded and carried out.
For the municipal government, this mobilization shows that it is not only an institutional demand, but a need shared by the citizens, who demand healthcare facilities in line with the growth of Playa Honda and with the current primary care needs. “Behind this demand are thousands of neighbors who have expressed their concern and who deserve a response. We are not talking about a secondary project, but about an essential public service. The healthcare needs of Playa Honda cannot continue to be relegated to the background,” states the mayor of San Bartolomé, Isidro Pérez.
Concern about the Master Plan for Healthcare Infrastructure in Lanzarote
The San Bartolomé City Council also points out that during the past month of October, the Ministry of Health was formally requested the Master Plan for Health Infrastructure of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, whose planning horizon extends until the year 2044, due to concerns that the expansion of the Playa Honda Health Center may suffer new delays.
The City Council considers it essential to know the place this infrastructure occupies within the regional health planning, what the real investment forecasts are, and what schedule the Government of the Canary Islands contemplates to meet a demand that has been pending for years. "We cannot allow an infrastructure that has been waiting for years to end up being diluted in a plan that goes until 2044. Playa Honda needs to know when it will have the health facilities its population requires. Long-term planning should serve to provide certainty, not to prolong uncertainty," states the mayor.
Insufficient allocations to guarantee execution
The fact that the draft law of the general budgets of the Canary Islands Autonomous Community for 2027 does not include or mention the Playa Honda Health Center "is a clear indication that this health center and its residents do not matter to the regional executive."
The Playa Honda Health Center has appeared in previous budget years with economic allocations that did not correspond to the total cost of the project. In 2024, 122,832 euros were contemplated, while in 2025 and 2026, allocations of 100,000 euros per year were included.
These amounts, far from the approximately eight million euros at which the project was valued during its parliamentary debate, did not in themselves represent a financial guarantee for the execution of the expansion but "at least it was included," but now, "this situation generates new doubts since it does not even appear in the draft budget for 2027," where no specific allocation for the Playa Honda Health Center has been identified.
“We want to know why, after so much time, we still do not have sufficient economic commitment. The population of Playa Honda cannot continue waiting indefinitely. We are not asking for privileges or special treatment. We demand that the real needs of our neighbors be addressed and that all administrations with responsibilities assume their responsibilities so that this infrastructure becomes a reality,” concludes Isidro Pérez.
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