The president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, has announced that the Budget allocated to Health for 2024 amounts to 14,246 million euros, which means that 30.5% of the entire Budget for next year will be dedicated exclusively to Health.
Thus, he has clarified that this is 3% more than what was allocated last year and 45% more than in 2018, specifically 4,402 million more than the last Budget of the previous Administration. «A budget never seen before in the history of Andalusia. No one has ever invested more than this Government in Health».
Moreno today visited the Radiation Oncology Unit of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville, which has incorporated two new radiotherapy accelerators that represent a significant advance in treatment capacity and speed and are designed for complex treatments.
With these two new machines, the Radiation Oncology Unit of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital now has six accelerators. Each of the two new accelerators has required an investment of 2.5 million euros and can treat 500 patients a year, reducing treatment times by speeding up the administration of radiation.
Moreno stressed the importance of these advances, as they mean a cure for a higher percentage of people and children with cancer, while at the same time he praised and thanked all the professionals working in this unit, which is made up of eighty doctors.
In this way, he added that the Virgen del Rocío Oncology Unit is a cancer treatment unit of national reference in sarcoma-type tumours and some childhood tumours, which has state-of-the-art equipment and highly qualified professionals. In this regard, he pointed out that each year more than 2,400 patients pass through the unit, of which between 50 and 100 are children.
In this way, he indicated that Andalusia registers around 200 cases of childhood cancer each year and that, to date, between 75 and 80% of the children treated in reference units such as this one overcome the disease.
He pointed out that the role of science, technology, the work of health professionals and the investment of the administrations in the public health system will lead to a maximum cure rate and stressed the Andalusian Government’s commitment to the public health system and to everything to do with oncological diseases.
In this regard, he recalled that from 2019 to 2022 investments in technologies related to cancer treatment and diagnosis will almost double that of the previous five years, rising from just under 30 million between 2014 and 2018 to more than 55 million from 2019 to last year.
In this way, he stressed that this year will see an investment of 107 million in technologies, with resources from European funds, while at the same time stressing that the number of healthcare professionals and staff has increased by 31.17% compared to 2018 and that today we have 519 professionals in these areas throughout Andalusia, 123 more than in 2018.
He also referred to the Cancer Strategy in Andalusia, which includes five lines of research, from prevention and diagnosis, to treatment, to the humanisation of care and epidemiology.
The Andalusian president pointed out that, as part of this Strategy, the Virgen del Rocío Hospital has for the first time in Andalusia incorporated a 24-hour multidisciplinary paediatric oncology network so that whatever happens to a child with cancer, any professional attending them in the Andalusian health network for any question will have a place of reference to consult doubts. This service has also been set up at the Regional Hospital in Malaga.
In this regard, he pointed out that the Virgen del Rocío Hospital is one of the flagships of Andalusian Public Health, a centre at the forefront of research, treatment and medical care.
The President of the Regional Government was accompanied by the Regional Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs, Catalina García, and the Managing Director of the Virgen del Rocío, Manuel Molina.