Alex Trelinski
LIVES have been lost on the Orihuela Costa because of an inadequate ambulance service, according to its local town hall.
Health councillor, Jose Galiano, has also claimed that his suggestions for a dedicated 24-hour service have been greeted with silence.
Galiano met with Valencia’s Public Health minister Isaura Navarro on June 18 and the councillor said he has had ‘no response’ to his urgent plea to improve local ambulance cover.
Jose Galiano said- “We have a 12-hour SAMU service that is woefully inadequate and the single vehicle has to be shared with San Miguel de Salinas and Pilar de la Horadada.”
“The official population of the area covered is 60,000 people and that easily doubles during the summer. The holiday season has started and I’ve heard nothing back from Navarro.”
Galiano had no hesitation in saying that slow response times have caused needless deaths.
“Orihuela Costa residents have suffered because an ambulance has not been able to arrive on time, especially in the 12 hour period when the medical staff is based in Torrevieja and not in the area,” he added.
There has been a whole catalogue of tragedies involving British residents and controversy over long waits for an ambulance.
In April 2018, nine-year-old Kai Fawcett died on a La Zenia beach after he collided with another youngster when playing football.
It took 25 minutes for an ambulance to reach the scene and there was a lack of locally-available defibrillators.
