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File image of a hospital room in Malaga. SUR
Major hospitals on the Costa stop charging patients for watching television
Health

Major hospitals on the Costa stop charging patients for watching television

The charge, which has always come under scrutiny, was scrapped at three Malaga healthcare centres on Sunday - and more in the region are set to follow suit

Iván Gelibter

Malaga

Tuesday, 3 October 2023, 17:01

The Hospital Regional de Málaga has stopped charging patients to watch television from their hospital beds

It is a measure that has always been heavily criticised, but patients at the healthcare centre in Malaga city will no longer need to dip into their pockets to watch their favourite TV programmes.

SUR can reveal the hospital scrapped the measure last Sunday 1 October across the entire complex of the Hospital Regional Universitario de Málaga including the Hospital General, the Hospital Materno Infantil and the el Hospital Civil.

Over the past few days, staff could be seen changing the equipment in the rooms, as the televisions have been replaced alongside the introduction of measure. In the coming weeks, the coin machines that were used to charge for the service will also be removed.

The move was part an electoral promise made by the head of the Andalusian regional government, Juanma Moreno, who announced it on the first day of the Junta's 2022 election campaign. Moreno also pledged to bring free wifi to all Andalusian public hospitals.

Moreno claimed at the time that there was a contract was in place with an outside company which obliged patients to pay for television in public hospitals. As soon as the contract expired, the Andalusian Health Service would take over the service, he added. But each individual hospital centre has its own expiration date, so it will take some time before the free television facility is available across the region.

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surinenglish Major hospitals on the Costa stop charging patients for watching television