Members of the 100% Public Healthcare Platform gathered last week in front of the Guardamar del Segura Health Centre to raise awareness of the lack of public transportation in the Vega Baja region, the second most populous and densely populated area in Alicante province.
According to the platform, the region “lacks a public transportation network that connects the different towns within it and with the larger population centres. Residents are exclusively dependent on private cars for any kind of travel.”
The platform emphasized that this situation is worsened by the demographic makeup of the area, where 30% of the population is over 65 years old—primarily users of the healthcare system—and 60% of the adult population has a high level of dependency.
Therefore, the platform is calling for regular, dedicated medical transportation that connects all towns in the health department to the Torrevieja Hospital for outpatient visits and hospital patient care. Guardamar previously had such a service.
The group is demanding the reinstatement of this service, with an extension to other municipalities within the health department, as it cannot be adequately covered by the existing regular passenger lines.
The platform also highlighted concerns about the Guardamar Health Centre, noting that the expansion works, according to the 2024 Valencian Regional Budget, were estimated to cost 6.36 million euros. The planned investment for 2024 was 362,000 euros, with 2.3 million euros expected for 2025.
However, no investment was made in 2024. In the 2025 budget, the estimated cost of the works was reduced to 5.15 million euros, with only 150,000 euros allocated for this year. In total, of the 2.66 million euros initially planned for the renovation between 2024-2025, only 150,000 euros will have been invested if the 2025 budget is followed.
