Nerja will now be getting a Centro Hospitalario de Alta Resolución de Especialidades (CHARE) – High Quality Speciality Hospital – rather than the original plan, a traditional Health Centre.
This change of plan was announced yesterday by Mariano Ruiz Cuadra, PSOE health spokesperson for the Junta de Andalucia.
The change means that the unit will have more specialised units, be able to carry out minor surgery and have more facilities for outpatients.
The project was initially agreed in 2003 but then suffered five years of delays as numerous problems arose, including disagreements over the actual site of the centre.
Phase one of the project, the urbanisation of part of the area around the proposed centre, has now been completed and the next stage is to actually begin construction of the CHARE. According to the Junta de Andalucia, the ratification of the agreement means that construction can begin ‘this year’.