The Pilar de la Horadada Council of is working to achieve an agreement that allows its residents to receive their healthcare from the Murcian health system through an agreement between the autonomous administration of the Region of Murcia and the Generalitat Valenciana.
The argument they make is that the Murcian hospital of Los Arcos is just 7 kilometres from the municipality while Torrevieja is 22. The mayor said that it is nothing to do with the current poor management of Torrevieja Hospital as he raised the matter previously when it was under the control of Ribera Salud in 2019.
Bordering a number of Murcian municipalities, such as San Pedro del Pinatar and San Javier, the residents of Pilar de la Horadada are just 7 km from the Regional Hospital of Mar Menor, Los Arcos, a distance that can be covered in less than ten minutes by car, while, during the low season a journey to Torrevieja will take at least 20 minutes, in the high season a great deal longer. Indeed some residential neighbourhoods, such as El Mojón, even share streets that straddle the two autonomous communities.
Another benefit is that the connection with the Murcian hospital is provided by motorway, while access to Torrevieja is via a four-lane parkway full of roundabouts, with very dense traffic, particularly travelling through Orihuela Costa or at the access to Torrevieja.
Sources from the Ministry of Health, meanwhile, state that they have yet to receive a formal proposal for this request by the City Council of Pilar de la Horadada (PP) and cannot comment on something of which they have no official record. However, there is evidence of a meeting that took place on October 18 between the mayor of Pilar de la Horadada, José María Pérez, and the councillor of Health, Nieves Moreno, with the managing director of the Murcian Health Service, Francisco Ponce.
The mayor added that, together with his government team, several meetings have been held with the management of the Torrevieja health department in which the feasibility of carrying out the change has been openly raised. Moreover, he confirmed that the proposal has been verbally requested with Minister Miguel Mínguez.
