Provincial authority allocates 300,000 euros towards new dementia centre in Benalmádena

The creation of a comprehensive care centre for patients with Alzheimer's and other dementias in Benalmádena took a step closer to reality last week after the Diputación de Malaga provincial authority allocated 300,000 euros to the project.

The subsidy was announced after the town’s mayor, Víctor Navas, approached both the Diputación and the Junta de Andalucía to ask for economic help similar to that received by the Adolfo Suárez day care centre for Alzheimer patients in Fuengirola.

“The purpose is to follow the same formula as the Adolfo Suárez day centre in Fuengirola. The Junta de Andalucía granted a subsidy of 800,000 euros between 2008 and 2010; and the Provincial Council granted another subsidy of 300,000 euros in 2012,” Navas said.

The town hall has been working for many years to find a solution to the problem for the Benalmádena-based association of relatives of patients with Alzheimer's (AFAB) to offer a dignified space for the care of patients that also serves as a residence, while offering support to families.

The council has already allocated a plot of land for the construction of the centre, which will serve patients in both Benalmádena and Torremolinos, along with an annual grant of 14,000 euros to the AFAB to help pay the rent on its current property.

“Now we need the Junta de Andalucía to contribute the equivalent amount that it granted in the day centre of Fuengirola: with those contributions, and a little help from entities such as the social works of banks, the amount that the AFAB needs to build this comprehensive care centre could be reached,” the mayor declared.