Benalmádena's Hospital Vithas Xanit celebrates 20 years, 250,000 surgeries and three million consultations

The Vithas Xanit Internacional hospital in Benalmádena celebrated its 20th anniversary on Wednesday. During this time, the hospital has provided over one million emergency care actions, more than three million outpatient consultations, over 250,000 surgeries and more than one million diagnostic tests.

More than 250 people attended the event, among them the mayors of Benalmádena, Fuengirola and Torremolinos, medical specialists, business owners and entrepreneurs and provincial and regional authorities.

At the end of the event, the company paid a memorial tribute to former managing director Mercedes Mengíbar. She was a key figure in the hospital's history for a whole decade. The hospital's auditorium will now bear her name.

Mengíbar's daughters, Gabriela and Lara García Mengíbar, received a commemorative plaque.

In his speech, regional director of Vithas in Andalucía José María Baena said: "Mercedes achieved many things at this hospital, especially in the early days, when the centre was built around a quality system certified by JCI. Even though it might have seemed unattainable at the time, for Mercedes that word didn't exist."

The company's president, Jorge Gallardo, stated that Vithas is a single-shareholder, family-owned company "with a long-term vision". CEO Dr Pedro Rico recognised the work of the "hundreds of thousands of professionals who have kept Vithas Xanit open, functioning, adapting, innovating and leading change for 20 years".

Managing director José Antonio Ródenas added: "What is truly important are the people who support the hospital every day and the patients who entrust us with the most valuable thing they have: their health."

The mayor of Benalmádena highlighted that these two decades represent a "path of effort, shared enthusiasm and commitment".

The hospital currently employs over 1,000 professionals. It has a distinction from the Joint Commission International (JCI), one of the world's most demanding standards for quality and patient safety. It ranks among the top 20 private hospitals in Spain.

Along with these accolades, the Vithas Xanit Internacional also has the seal of the Andalusian health quality agency (ACSA) and the Best Spanish Hospital award. The centre appears in the World's Best Hospitals 2026 ranking.