“We need more ambulances at the Hospital de Torrevieja, which only has 15 or 16 vehicles to serve a population close to half a million people in the summer.”

The demands were made by the spokeswoman for Ciudadanos (Cs) in Torrevieja, Pilar Gómez Magán, with the support of the C’s councillor in San Miguel de Salinas, María José Costa Medrano, who jointly demand “urgent measures to improve areas of security and Health in the Vega Baja region”.

Gómez Magán said that “Torrevieja Hospital serves 160,000 patients throughout the year but in summer the population triples. Although we have not been able to confirm figures from official sources, because they seem to want to maintain secrecy on this issue, we have estimated that there are approximately 3 SAMU ambulances, 5 SVB while the remainder are TNA.

Costa Medrano said that Torrevieja Hospital covers 22 municipalities, “so there are many thousands of people who would benefit from the proposed changes.”

Both councillors also proposed the creation of a helipad at the Hospital de Torrevieja “with a 24-hour medical helicopter, especially in the summer months when we have the greatest tourist influx. That way, emergencies requiring transfer to other units in the province can be managed much faster, since roads are often at gridlock in the summer,” said Gomez Magán.