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Campaigners demand Orihuela Costa gets its own health zone as healthcare pressure mounts
With 30,000 registered residents and just one medical centre, Orihuela Costa's healthcare system is at breaking point
A local healthcare campaign platform is stepping up pressure on the city council to deliver proper public health provision for Orihuela Costa, submitting a formal document this week that sets out a series of urgent demands they say can no longer be delayed.
At the heart of the campaign is a call for Orihuela Costa to be recognised as its own basic health zone, something the platform argues is long overdue given that the area has around 30,000 registered residents, a figure that reportedly triples during the busiest periods of the year.
Despite that, the entire stretch of coast is currently served by just one primary care centre, meaning residents regularly have to travel several kilometres out of the area for tests, specialist care and rehabilitation.
To add insult to injury, Orihuela city, with a comparable permanent population, has two health centres and a dedicated specialist centre on its doorstep.
The platform is also calling for the existing health centre to be upgraded as an immediate measure, and for the construction of a second public health centre in the area, plans for which received a favourable report from the Regional Ministry of Health this week with an estimated budget of just under €8.9 million.
Perhaps most pointedly, the campaign is demanding that a plot of land in Lomas de Cabo Roig, which the City Council is understood to be intending to lease to private healthcare provider Ribera Salud for the construction of a private hospital, should instead be transferred to the Regional Ministry of Health and used for a second public hospital under the Torrevieja health department.
The platform argues that the shortfall in public healthcare in Orihuela Costa should not be used as a justification for expanding private provision, and that public taxes should go towards public services that are accessible to everyone.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Orihuela
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