This was announced yesterday by the Minister of Health of the Canary Islands Government, María del Mar Julios, during her visit to the hospital to monitor the works being carried out by the regional government on the island's health infrastructures. Specifically, she inaugurated the second phase of the hospital's expansion, accompanied by the president of the Cabildo, Inés Rojas, and the island's Minister of Health, Manuel Fajardo, among other authorities.
A spectacular investment
María del Mar Julios stated that "a spectacular investment is being made in Lanzarote's health services" and affirmed that the increase in health personnel seeks to address the strong demographic growth that the Island has experienced in recent years. This is demonstrated by the fact that currently health cards exceed the population census, going from 115,255 cards in 2003 to 126,176 in 2005, which represents an increase of almost 11,000 health cards in just two years.
The Minister affirmed that the response that the Canary Islands Government has given to this demographic growth is reflected in the increase in the budget invested in the sector. In this sense, she announced that the Canary Islands government has invested 68 million euros (more than 11,300 million pesetas), of which about 45 million have paid for the infrastructure and approximately 15 million have been allocated to equipment. The budget that the Ministry of Health has allocated to the centers of the Canary Islands Health Service of Lanzarote has increased since 2000 by 61% in Primary Care (from 9 to 14.5 million euros), and by 66% in Specialized Care (from 29 to 47.9 million euros).
New infrastructures
The General Hospital will have the most advanced scanner in the entire Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. The new Computed Axial Tomography (CAT) room measures 62 square meters and has cost 768,387 euros. This is one of the new elements that have been incorporated into the health center, thanks to the expansion that is being carried out on its facilities.
After the almost two-hour tour of the hospital complex, María del Mar Julios reviewed the facilities visited: "A new hospitalization plant and various areas of the hospital that were fundamental are already functioning, the situation of the emergency services has been improved, and we have seen another series of areas of the hospital that are already equipped and will soon begin to function, such as the new ICU and the new CAT".
Indeed, both rooms are located in the high-tech area, which also houses a new operating room for Major Outpatient Surgery (MOS), with an area of 87 square meters that has required an investment of 288,000 euros.
Transfer of patients to the larger islands
The Minister referred to the issue of allowances for the transfer of patients to the capital islands and assured that the State government "should be more sensitive to the island territories", since other Autonomous Communities do not have that cost, which can send patients from one province to another simply by road.
She admitted that they have not obtained the financing they expected, which has been less, but assured that "the Government of the Canary Islands maintains its commitment by contributing 30% of the budget in Health, and we will make an effort towards next year's budget looking for alternatives, not only in terms of allowances, but agreements so that there may be places where patients and their families can stay and eat, without this generating an additional cost", she concluded.
