Andalusian regional government delays tender process for new hospital in Malaga city

The new hospital project for Malaga city is still at a standstill, ten months after the Andalusian regional government received the design of the building in order to put the contract out to tender.

Following the presentation of the regional budgets for 2024 in November 2023, the Andalusian government said that the project, known as the "third hospital", would be put out to tender at the beginning of this year and that it could be contracted by the end of the year. If nothing changes in the coming weeks, the delay - so far unexplained - would already exceed one year.

In December 2023 the Andalusian health service received the project for the construction of the new hospital in Malaga city on the land behind the existing Hospital Civil. The technical team formed by Madrid architect Carlos Lamela's studio together with AIDHOS, an architectural firm specialised in hospital architecture, and the engineering companies Sener and ARCS, delivered the document to the Junta on time, along with plans to build a car park in the same area.

With these two projects in its possession, the Andalusian government could have already put the two projects out to tender. However, almost a year later, it has failed to do so.

Not only has it not happened yet, but it is not known when it will happen. SUR asked the regional health department several questions on this matter on Wednesday 11 September and after several hours they said just that they are working to make this hospital a reality "as soon as possible", although they clarify that always with a "thorough analysis" to ensure that decisions made "have all the care and administrative guarantees". Finally, they stated that they are "currently" working on the tender for the first phase.

Following this response, SUR asked why this "in-depth analysis" had not been carried out in the past 10 months or if any changes to the project had been proposed. They were also asked about the approximate date for the tender, and whether this process will take place before the end of 2024. The official sources at the regional health department did not respond to any of these questions.

The project for the first phase, the car park building, was valued at 40.8 million euros, including the preliminary demolitions, the development of an outdoor square next to the car park - which will have entrances and exits to Calles Velarde and Blas de Lezo - and the construction of part of the three basement floors of the future hospital.

This large hospital complex for Malaga, of which there will be four 12-storey blocks, will have more than 800 beds, 42 operating theatres and almost 200 outpatients' surgeries. In addition, it will be connected to the Materno Infantil children's and maternity hospital by a walkway over Avenida del Arroyo de los Ángeles and will also have another walkway to join up with the Hospital Civil.

The centre will have an area with 27 hospitalisation units, a day hospital with 108 stations, four intensive care units with 66 rooms, 48 major outpatient surgery stations, 31 special examination rooms and a teaching and research area. The total estimated budget for the works is 379 million euros.