It is estimated that the improvements will involve strengthening healthcare for more than 137,000 inhabitants.
The North Hospital, in Icod de los Vinos, will receive an investment of 1.6 million euros through an agreement between the Cabildo and the Canary Islands Health Service to expand its healthcare capacity with improvements in oncology, surgery, and laboratory facilities, thus avoiding transfers to the University Hospital of the Canary Islands (HUC).
In this way, healthcare for more than 137,000 inhabitants of the municipalities of La Orotava, Los Realejos, La Guancha, San Juan de la Rambla, Icod de los Vinos, Garachico, Buenavista del Norte, Los Silos, and El Tanque is expected to be reinforced, as reported by the island institution in a statement.
The President of the Cabildo, Rosa Dávila, visited the Hospital on Monday to supervise the areas where the 1.6 million euro investment, framed in an agreement with the Canary Islands Health Service, will be carried out.
Dávila toured the facilities with the Director of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Carlos Gustavo Díaz; the manager of the North Hospital, Adasat Goya; the medical director, Juan Antonio García; the nursing director, Óscar Mora; the management director, Eufrasio Gutiérrez; the director of Human Resources, Avelina Díaz, and the councilors for Education for Prevention and Mobility, Juan Acosta and Eulalia García, respectively.
«Our objective is clear: to bring healthcare services to the north of Tenerife so that patients do not have to travel long distances to the metropolitan area to receive specialized medical attention. With this investment, we improve the quality of life of thousands of people and contribute to reducing traffic congestion on the TF-5,» emphasized the island president.
Carlos Gustavo Díaz thanked the collaboration and commitment of the Cabildo of Tenerife to possibly the «most sensitive» area, such as Canary Islands healthcare, and the initiative to establish a collaboration agreement that will «increase emergency care in the north of the island,» thus «avoiding transfers and making traffic flow more smoothly.»
INVESTMENTS
With an investment of 487,585 euros, the new laboratory of the Hospital will streamline diagnosis and clinical analysis within the hospital itself. It will operate from 08:00 to 20:00 from Monday to Friday, as well as having a permanent service for emergencies.
It is expected that waiting times for results delivery will be significantly reduced, as well as avoiding patients having to go to other centers for tests.
In addition, the opening of the preparation room for cytostatics at the Day Hospital, with an investment of 196,145 euros, will allow chemotherapy treatments to be administered in Icod de los Vinos, avoiding oncology patients from the north having to travel to the HUC.
According to estimates from the Canary Islands Health Service, the decentralization of these treatments will prevent 140,000 annual trips to the HUC, which means 560 fewer trips per day on the TF-5.
In addition to improving the quality of life for patients, this measure, they argue, will reduce waiting times and facilitate a «closer and more accessible» treatment.
With an investment of 205,000 euros, the creation of a Blood Bank at the North Hospital will ensure the immediate availability of blood products, facilitating major surgeries at the hospital.
Currently, the Cabildo of Tenerife points out, many surgical interventions cannot be performed at the hospital due to a lack of blood in stock, which forces patients to be transferred to the HUC. With this improvement, surgical capacity will increase and dependence on the metropolitan area will decrease.
Finally, the creation of a Sterilization Center at the North Hospital, with an investment of 700,000 euros, will allow surgical materials to be processed at the hospital itself.
Until now, equipment used in surgical procedures had to be sent to the HUC for sterilization, causing delays and limiting the number of operations.
With this new infrastructure, they detail, operating rooms will be able to operate in the morning and afternoon, increasing the hospital’s response capacity and optimizing healthcare resources.
MEETING WITH MAYORS
After the visit, the President of the Cabildo met with the mayors of the municipalities in the north of the island to reaffirm the «commitment» to improving public healthcare and reducing traffic congestion.
«Every new service we enable at the North Hospital means fewer trips to the HUC and an improvement in the quality of life for patients. We are making healthcare more accessible and, at the same time, helping to reduce traffic on the TF-5, one of the main mobility issues on the island,» she said.
According to the Cabildo, the mayors of the region have positively valued the investment and have highlighted the need to continue expanding healthcare services in the north to reduce dependence on the HUC.
