The much-needed new Andalusian Health Service (SAS) hospital for Malaga will be delivered using a mixed public-private financing model. The Junta de Andalucía plans to tender a 400-million-euro contract for the plans and the construction of the new hospital to be located on land currently used as a car park for the Hospital Civil in the city. The authority will resort to private funding for the construction of the building, but the hospital will be run by the regional Health Ministry.

Details have not been given regarding how the contract will be granted or what the authority will offer the firm that puts up the funds for the hospital. One option could be to pay the funds back in instalments; another could be to allow the firm to run hospital services (such as kitchen, laundry, cafeteria, maintenance, car park, etc.).

This project is known as Malaga's third hospital, the first two being the Hospital Regional complex (formed by the General - formerly Carlos Haya, Civil and Materno hospitals), and the Virgen de la Victoria (Clínico). New facilities have been called for for some time to guarantee healthcare for the population of Malaga and the surrounding catchment area for the coming decades.

By using private funding the authority's aim is to speed up the construction process with the hope of opening the facility before the end of 2027.

According to the authority the hospital will have around 1,000 beds, 214 consulting rooms, 46 operating theatres, a critical care unit and accident and emergency department, among other services. It will be built on an area of 85,000 square metres.

Billion-euro plan

The third hospital has been declared a scheme of strategic interest and included in a one-billion-euro package of infrastructure projects across the region, based on a public-private alliance model, announced this week.

Other healthcare projects included in the package include equipping and opening the new hospital in Estepona, where construction was completed earlier this year.

More details of the package, designed to revive the region after the Covid health crisis, were given by the vice-president of the Junta, Juan Marín, earlier this week.

As well as the Malaga and Estepona hospitals, among the other projects in the province of Malaga to benefit are the dry port in Antequera, improved access to the PTA technology park, the new sewage works north of the city, new schools in Malaga, Mijas and Benalmádena, and the expansion and improvement of others around the province.