Los Pacos health centre in Fuengirola is opened after a 20-year wait

The Los Pacos district of Fuengirola has a new public health centre twenty years after it was first talked about. The president of the Junta de Andalucía regional government, Juanma Moreno, opened it on Thursday morning this week.

The building on Calle Aliaria has 34 consultation rooms and 44 staff will work there, providing coverage to some 19,000 people in the Los Pacos, Torreblanca and Carvajal areas of Fuengirola.

With the new opening, pressure will be taken off the health centre in Los Boliches, which had become overcrowded as Fuengirola's population grew to 80,000. The only other health centre up to now in the municipality has been Fuengirola Oeste.

"It has been forty years since the opening of a health centre in this town and in that time we have tripled our population," said the mayor, Ana Mula, at the opening of Los Pacos.

The president of the Junta praised the effort that has been made to get to this point. "For more than two decades the town hall and residents have been crying out for this facility," he said, explaining that it was back in 2007 when the land was given up by the council to the regional government for the centre. The former mayor of Fuengirola, Esperanza Oña, was also present at the opening as the first leader to push for the construction.

"In 2009 a plan was approved which had to be modified because it occupied part of other adjoining land and, since then, nothing until 2022, when the plan was updated and work began for 4.7 million euros," continued Moreno, saying that the final investment is six million euros with the addition of equipment and staffing.

He also pointed out that this new health centre has services that until now were not offered in Fuengirola, only in the neighbouring municipality of Mijas. These include rehabilitation, radiology and dentistry.

Moreno added that money is also being invested in extending Los Boliches health centre. Work began a year ago and has now been completed, with some "finishing touches" still to be carried out, he said.

The Los Boliches changes will see 12 new primary care consultation rooms added, bringing the total to 36.

"We have seen through a major renovation operation to improve healthcare in the town," said Moreno. The Los Boliches investment is some 12m euros.