Healthcare Crisis in Marbella Worsens with Infrastructure Issues
The already chaotic situation of public healthcare in Marbella, due to staff shortages, has been further complicated by the collapse of a false ceiling at the Leganitos health center a week ago. As repair work is underway, patient care has been restricted. Only non-deferrable patients are attended to in the mornings, and telephone consultations have been expanded.
Public Healthcare in Marbella: From Bad to Worse
Public healthcare in Marbella is deteriorating, with increasing problems, some of them new, leading to an even more chaotic situation. Last Holy Wednesday, a false ceiling on the first floor of the Leganitos health center, one of the three in the municipality, collapsed.
Patients Face Restrictions Amidst Repair Work
After the holidays, patients returned this week to find restrictions in the care provided. The primary care district had already informed last Saturday about the changes to be introduced while the situation was being resolved, but a large part of the population was unaware.
Healthcare Services Adjusted During Repair Work
In the mornings, until 3:00 pm, only non-deferrable family medicine consultations are attended to, while there are no changes in pediatrics and nursing. In the afternoons, when demand is much lower, the health center operates normally. The entire first floor, where most of the consultations are, is under repair after part of the ceiling collapsed a week ago.
Repair Work Underway at Health Center
Currently, the two waiting rooms and corridors are being repaired, and later, the offices are also planned to be renovated. “We have been told that it was a problem with the plaster of the false ceiling that was already old,” said Auxi Martínez, delegate of the Medical Union of Malaga (SMM) in the area.
Uncertainty Over Duration of Repair Work
Martínez is unsure how long the repair work might last, but explains that “they are also going to work on the consultations to prevent the same thing from happening.” The care being offered “is more by phone, a bit like when Covid was around,” she indicated.
Patients and Professionals Face Inconvenience
For now, non-deferrable patients are being seen on the ground floor and the rest have to use the telephone if they had a morning schedule. “It is causing inconvenience to patients and also to professionals, it is a specific issue that will not have a solution in two days,” adds the SMM representative.
Public Outrage Over Healthcare Situation
Francisco, a patient who had an appointment on Monday morning, went to the health center. “They did not attend to me, it was chaos and I left, it’s a shame,” he told Marbella24horas.
Political Criticism Over Healthcare Crisis
At the last council meeting, socialist councilor and former mayor, José Bernal, referred to the collapse of the ceiling in Leganitos. “It is a shame and an indecency of the PP government, which in the last 6 years has allowed the health centers of small towns and humble neighborhoods to collapse, which they constantly crush because they are surplus,” he said. Marbella has two health centers, Albarizas and the oldest, Leganitos, while there is another, in this case new, in San Pedro Alcántara.
Related news:
– A false ceiling collapses at the Leganitos health center in Marbella.
