The “Juntos Avanzamos” neighbourhood association in the Playa de San Juan district of Alicante has once again denounced what it describes as a “critical situation” regarding local healthcare. According to the association’s president, José Caracena, a lack of investment has reached such an extreme that residents themselves have had to paint medical consultation rooms due to the state of abandonment, a task they insist should fall to the administration.
The group highlighted that while the neighbourhood has been waiting eleven years for the La Condomina health centre, the daily reality is a small clinic of just 80 square metres where patients are frequently overcrowded. Caracena expressed his frustration, stating that it is a disgrace for residents to pay “first-class taxes” only to be treated in “third-class infrastructure.” He noted that the facility appeared so deplorable that the community felt forced to tidy it themselves because the Generalitat had turned its back on them.
Following a new announcement yesterday, Tuesday May 5th, by the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, regarding the start of construction for the district’s health centre this summer, the association remains sceptical. After a decade of unfulfilled promises, they are demanding more than just media announcements. They have called for a face-to-face meeting with Marciano Gómez to clarify all details and secure a direct commitment to the community’s representatives.
The association has warned that they will not lower their guard and have already designed a plan for mobilisations. These protests will be executed immediately if the requested meeting does not take place and if doubts regarding the project are not resolved.