The Directorate of the Lanzarote Health Area and the island's Health Services Management have presented a strategic document to the director of the Canarian Health Service, Adasat Goya. This document lays the groundwork for planning the healthcare network of Lanzarote and La Graciosa over the next two decades, with a horizon set for 2044.
The plan, developed by technicians from the public company Gesplan, analyzes the current and future needs of the island's healthcare infrastructure. It provides a technical basis for anticipating, organizing, and programming necessary actions, considering healthcare, functional, urban planning, economic, and socio-demographic criteria. The initiative was driven by the Health Services Management and developed by Gesplan specialists over the past two years.
The plan is based on the need to progressively adapt healthcare infrastructure to population evolution and the healthcare requirements of the coming decades. The objective is to guarantee the healthcare system's response capacity and promote coordinated planning of available resources.
Erasmo García, director of the island's Health Area, and Pablo Eguía, manager of Health Services, explained that the public presentation scheduled for this fortnight is postponed due to restrictions in the Organic Law of the General Electoral Regime, which prohibits the dissemination of future commitments during electoral periods. However, working groups will continue to operate using the available planning as a reference.
One of the most relevant data points in the plan is the projected growth of the island's healthcare network. For the 2044 horizon, a reference population of between 197,000 and 200,000 inhabitants is considered, taking into account the projected evolution of the resident population and different floating population scenarios. The document offers a technical basis for evaluating options and defining the appropriate strategic scenario through necessary institutional and administrative validation processes.
The growth needs outlined in the Plan indicate a significant increase in healthcare surface area over the next 20 years. The plan organizes possible interventions into three stages to prioritize urgent actions and define medium and long-term ones, responding to population growth and future needs. To determine development alternatives, the document analyzes the adaptability of existing infrastructure, land availability, estimated investment costs, and the demographic evolution of Lanzarote and La Graciosa.
The execution of this Master Plan requires specifying actions through specific functional programs and establishing a progressive, flexible roadmap adjusted to budgetary availability, the healthcare system's operational capacity, and healthcare needs.
