Costa del Sol Hospital completes its expansion after 19 years

The president of the Regional Government of Andalusia, Juanma Moreno, inaugurated this Tuesday the expansion of the Costa del Sol University Hospital, a project that was completed 19 years after its approval in 2007 and its suspension in 2010, with work resuming in 2021 with an investment of over 100 million euros.

The event takes place one year after the new hospital block was put into operation in March 2025, and three years since the administrative building became operational in 2023, highlighted the Andalusian president, who was accompanied by the mayor of Marbella, Ángeles Muñoz.

During his speech, Moreno highlighted the just over 100 million of investment allocated to the hospital's expansion and the “acquisition of state-of-the-art equipment,” which has also helped reduce “the care pressure at the Virgen de la Victoria reference hospital in the capital.”

The president of the Regional Government recalled that the expansion of the Costa del Sol hospital resumed in 2021, despite the project being approved in 2007, construction starting in 2008, and being halted in 2010 due to a conflict over parking. This, according to Moreno, has created “a very serious care deficit that lasted eleven years during which the Costa del Sol continued to grow.”

At this point, he stressed that the center has been “very close to its capacity limit, with patients traveling to Málaga city” because there was a lack of “not only diagnostic tests but also treatments, especially in oncology.” He also mentioned the lack of “key medical specialties in areas where the population growth rate is 3% annually” in Marbella.

Thus, he emphasized that the center serves about 460,000 patients, which “required financial support,” hence he highlighted that the buildings were put into operation as the hospital's construction was completed, which he inaugurated today after “five years of continuous investments.” With this, “we avoid thousands of trips, especially oncological ones, which cause many hardships because they involve people and their families whose treatments are harsh and sometimes deteriorating.”

The hospital adds 90,000 square meters with the expansion

Moreno specified that the expansion adds “about 40,000 square meters comprised of two buildings adjacent to the main one,” with a total area of 90,000 square meters. In this regard, he noted that the administrative building's operation has allowed “freeing up space in the main building to expand the Emergency, Laboratory, and Pharmacy areas.”

On the other hand, he highlighted that the new hospital block, which began its activity in March 2025, houses “outpatient consultations and diagnostic tests, day hospitals for medical and ophthalmological care, and the new surgical block equipped with 16 operating rooms, one of them hybrid.” Additionally, the building includes an area for “radiotherapy and nuclear medicine,” as well as the Assisted Reproduction Unit, among other services.

Regarding the equipment of the center, Moreno highlighted that it features “state-of-the-art technology, such as a PET/CT, a CT scanner, a mammogram machine, or two linear accelerators.” At the same time, he praised the design of the work, aimed “exclusively for nuclear medicine, much of it oriented towards oncology and oncological treatments,” emphasizing its safety.

In this regard, he detailed that part of the equipment “is already installed,” noting that it is “quite expensive and complex because it requires training for its workers”; while another part “is still pending the necessary authorizations from the Nuclear Safety Council for its operation and the training of specialized personnel.”

On the other hand, the Andalusian president mentioned that “some minor renovations” in the main building are yet to be completed, and he highlighted that “the expansion has involved a significant increase in staff, with 276 new positions representing an additional investment of about 14 million euros per year in Human Resources.”

Moreno also expressed gratitude to the healthcare professionals, who “make the magic of healthcare possible,” asking the residents for “empathy” with them. “A poor response, a lack of education, or an aggression are beyond any possibility of our framework of coexistence,” he emphasized.

"The budget effort we have made in this hospital is not an isolated or occasional event. It responds to an intense and unprecedented comprehensive 'Renewal Plan' that has allowed us, in just seven years, to improve totally or partially 100% of the healthcare network in Málaga. We have already injected about 360 million euros into the healthcare of the entire province to address the severe deficit it suffered for entire legislatures," he stressed.

Investment with REACT EU European funds

For his part, the central government's subdelegate in Málaga, Javier Salas, highlighted that the hospital expansion was made possible “thanks to 93 million euros of European funds REACT EU, transferred to the autonomous communities by the Government of Spain” and that the president of the Executive, Pedro Sánchez, “secured in Brussels after the Covid crisis to reinforce public services in Spain.”

Thus, he detailed that an investment of “more than 150 billion euros” has been made in the province of Málaga, of which “93 million have made possible the expansion of this hospital and the high-tech machinery” with which it is equipped.

At this point, he recalled other projects developed, such as “other hospitals in the province of Málaga or new health centers, like the one in Los Boliches in Fuengirola or in Nerja,” to which he added “expansions or important infrastructures like the Maternal and Child Hospital.”