The Vega Baja Hospital, which serves half of the region’s population, was visited by the President of the Valencia Consell, Ximo Puig, on Tuesday, who announced that the Ministry of Health is currently talking with the centre’s management as they assess the needs of the local population.
The study will also show how the hospital can best meet those needs together with any necessary expansion that might be needed to ensure that suitable resources are in place.
Both the users and public representatives have been demanding an extension to the hospital for some years which the Generalitat Valenciana has now recognised.
Puig said that the objective is to provide better care to patients, however, it is not yet known what investment might needed or when it may become available.
“The extension is necessary to improve and expand the portfolio of available medical services. It forms a large part of our costs, currently 6,500 million euros, which is 40% of our actual budget, “said Puig.
The president was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Carmen Montón, who said that with this extension we want to improve three areas, which are “specialised care, outpatient consultations and also have greater surgical capacity in the future.” Montón said that the aim of the Valencian government is to expand the building and provide it, not only with better services but also with the necessary staff to run the additional facilities.
The Generalitat recently undertook an expansion of the Vega Baja Hospital in the Emergency Department where more than one million euros was invested and the space increased by an additional 269 meters.
The improvements brought with them an increase in the number of medical staff and, according to Montón, a plan is now being finalised to increase the number of staff in the Children’s Mental Health Unit.
The councillor also noted that the bidding process for a CT scanner and a mammographer is under way, under the supervision of the Amancio Ortega foundation. The Foundation provides the support programme to modernise the cancer detection and radiotherapy treatment units in all public hospitals.
“It will be something that improves the ability of staff to offer the best diagnoses and treatments in this area,” added Montón.
