Malaga's Civil hospital temporary car park remains closed despite finished construction

The temporary car park at Hospital Civil in Malaga, which has 650 spaces and was originally intended as the initial phase of construction of the future Virgen de la Esperanza hospital, remains closed more than a month and a half after its completion.

As a result, patients, some with severe mobility issues who go for treatment, and healthcare workers are demanding the immediate opening of the facility.

In addition, they are asking the regional ministry of health not to implement the new rate of 1.36 euros per hour for general users and 0.61 cents for hospital employees.

This has already sparked two protests and a complaint to the Andalusian Ombudsman. Of the total parking spaces, 163 will be available to workers at a reduced rate, with parking on a first-come, first-served basis. The remaining spaces are for patients.

The joint venture of companies operating the third hospital will manage the car park and operate the underground car park to be built on Calle Blas de Lezo, as well as the spaces in the basement of the third hospital.

The area is home to the Civil hospital, the Materno Infantil hospital and, in the future, the Virgen de la Esperanza hospital, making parking difficult.

On 26 May, the regional ministry confirmed the closure of Hospital Civil's car park (280 spaces) due to the ongoing hospital construction. By then, the temporary car park had already been completed and the plan was to open the new facility "as soon as possible".

General secretary of the UGT union at Hospital Regional Carlos Bueno confirmed that parking is difficult in the area, especially for patients who "need to park nearby" due to reduced mobility.

"You know what time your appointment is, but not when you'll be able to leave," he said, adding that treatments sometimes "last five or six hours", which significantly increases the price.

Several healthcare workers reported that they are parking in the La Rosaleda shopping centre or other areas of Martiricos, while others drop off their relatives, some with walking frames or wheelchairs, at the entrance to the hospital and go looking elsewhere to park.

"They leave their cars badly parked," Bueno said. Previously, there was a monthly pass for healthcare workers that cost 18 euros, "but now, if you're one of the 163 lucky ones, it costs you 84.5 euros".

"We are asking for the immediate opening and for the surcharges to be suspended. We need free parking for patients and staff or something similar to what we had before," Bueno stated.

A worker at the Materno Infantil hospital, who prefers to remain anonymous, said that she often goes to the hospital and waits a while in her car trying to find a parking spot. Other times she goes to the Rosaleda shopping centre, "leaving home 50 minutes early, as if going to Marbella, just to park".

"Sometimes I spend ages going around in circles," she said. "In the X-ray department, sometimes a pregnant woman arrives with another child and while her husband parks, one healthcare worker holds the baby and another takes the X-ray," she gave just one case as an example.

As a result, many patients arrive late for their appointments.

Inés Saldaña Díaz is the CSIF representative at Hospital Civil. "We were recently told it was going to open, but nothing has happened. It seems some documents are missing. Besides the exorbitant price for both workers and patients, it makes hiring professionals difficult. The regional government should have handled this differently," Saldaña said.

"A man took his wife to Hospital Materno to give birth, dropped her off at the emergency room entrance, parked and, by the time he arrived, she had already given birth," she said.

Eugenio Pérez is the provincial secretary of the SATSE nursing union. "We don't know why the surface car park can't open, whether it's due to regulations, but it's ready, it's spacious and it could provide an important public service in the area. The prices are exorbitant. We can't allow them to profit at the expense of patients. This isn't the case in other large hospitals," he said.

"Many can't come by public transport. They're left with crutches or in wheelchairs at the entrance waiting for a family member to park, which takes them 40 minutes or an hour," Pérez said, echoing his colleagues' examples.

He confirmed that many workers start heading for their jobs an hour before their shift begins. Many have early morning shifts.

SUR has tried to contact the regional government for a comment, without success.

The hospital has recommended prioritising the use of public transport, shared car rides or arriving earlier for appointments during this period.

Read dedicated local reporting for Malaga city