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Eugenio Cabezas
Vélez-Málaga
Monday, 21 October 2024, 13:52
The Junta de Andalucía has given the environmental green light to the Madrid-based HM Hospitales group to build a new private hospital in Vélez-Málaga on the eastern stretch of the Costa del Sol.
The project, which has been in the pipeline for two years, is planned in the Camino de Torrox area between Vélez-Málaga and Caleta de Vélez, where work is ongoing to extend the junction onto the A-7 motorway.
The Junta de Andalucía report, to which SUR has had access, analyses the different alternatives to the project, with reports from the different departments of the regional administration involved. It mentions aspects such as the availability of water resources and communication between the different departments related to environmental quality and urban planning.
The technical document analyses three alternative locations, with the chosen location on the western part of the SUNS VM-1 area, near the centre of Vélez-Málaga, and has direct access from the motorway to the town centre, "which facilitates the connection and access to the proposed facility". In addition this option "minimises the visual impact and is located outside the flood plains of the Campiñuelas stream".
The first alternative studied would imply not executing the action, leaving the land in its current state. The document considers that this "could lead to an inappropriate use of the land, as it would be very close to the urban area, which could cause contamination and affect agricultural development". The third option, also discarded, although technically feasible, "is located in the south-eastern part of the SUNS VM-1 area, which distances it from the urban area. This would lead to a greater number of vehicle journeys, it has a more unfavourable topography and could be affected in the future by its proximity to the Río Seco. In addition, it would require the development of a general infrastructure that is not currently foreseen, which would complicate its implementation" according to the document.
There will now be a 15-month period for consultation before the work can begin. The company is confident that it will be able to start construction in early 2026, once it manages to complete the procedures and obtain the corresponding municipal licence. "It is still too early to specify the total investment earmarked for this project because the expectation is that, if the administrative channels allow it, which is currently the case, the company will complete the construction of the new hospital in 2027," sources from the HM Hospitales group, which in 2022 acquired four hospitals in Malaga, with 200 beds and 400 doctors in Malaga, have told SUR.
The future health facility is set to be built on the same plot of land as 400 houses, logistics and commercial areas. HM Hospitales have highlighted that they offer "a wide healthcare network in the province" and says that the Vélez-Málaga hospital is "an ambitious project that will offer healthcare coverage to the entire Axarquía area, becoming the first hospital to be built on the eastern Costa del Sol".
The company is also "in the process of renovating the infrastructure of its four centres in the province". The Vélez-Málaga project will have two units, two operating theatres, 50 rooms and six outpatient surgery posts, among other facilities, on a plot of about 55,000 square metres.
The healthcare facility would have five care units with emergency services, a polyclinic for outpatient consultations for at least eight specialities, diagnostics with analytical tests and radiology on a single floor of 1,500 square metres. The acute phase, which would be located on the first floor of the building, would also have two multi-purpose operating theatres, an endoscopy room, a recovery area and a day hospital with 20 individual rooms.
The day hospital will also have six outpatient surgery stations. The promoters point out that the area of influence would include the eastern coast of Malaga and Granada, with a foreign population of between 20 and 30%, 80% of whom have private medical insurance, and a national population of which 12% also have private medical coverage.
There are also investors interested in building a logistics and transport space on the same land, a project that has been on the table for more than a decade.
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