June 1, 1999 became a historic date for Canarian healthcare. Finally, after an intense fight led by public and private institutions, health professionals and the citizens themselves, he University Hospital of Gran Canaria Doctor Negrín opened its doors and began serving the first patients in the Outpatient Clinic area. The new center progressively integrated the activities that until then were carried out in hospitals Nuestra Señora del Pino, El Sabinal and the Las Palmas Specialized Care Center. All this in a space of 193,382 square meters built, which was inaugurated by the then President of the Government of the Canary Islands, Manuel Hermoso, and the Minister of Health, Julio Bonis. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of his birth, the center will hold a series of activities between June 17 and 23.
It was in 1987, when the Ministry of Health approved the construction of a new hospital on the Island. Two years later, the City Council of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria gave up the land located in the Barranco de La Ballena to install the building. However, 80% of the plot was privately owned, which represented a significant obstacle due to the owners’ demands. Once the conflict was resolved, in 1992, the complex project was presented.
In 1994, following the creation of the Canarian Health Service (SCS), and after a long period of negotiations with the Ministry, the autonomous community managed to obtain 16,441 million pesetas to finance the work. On November 23 of that same year, the first stone was laid.
«Through an assembly made up of a group of professionals who were working at that time in El Pino, a platform was created to defend the need to create a new hospital that would respond to the demands of our patients. At first there were doubts related to the location and the option of converting the old Military Hospital to move there was considered. Finally, the Ministry of Defense did not allow that space to be used, and then we fought for the creation of a new center,” recalls the Dr. José Carlos Rodríguez, head of the Nephrology service between 2010 and 2022 –year in which he signed his retirement– at the Doctor Negrín Hospital.
This doctor experienced the transition to the current reference center in the northern area of Gran Canaria on the front line. According to him, he landed in El Pino in 1977 to begin his specialty, where he remained until 1980. Afterwards, he moved to Sweden, Madrid and the United States. Upon returning to the old capital hospital, he became the first Transplant coordinator in the province of Las Palmas. In addition, he held the position of head of the Nephrology section.
«We professionals participate in the design of healthcare services. The idea was to have a spacious hospital, where health personnel and patients would be in adequate conditions, both in the Emergency Department and in the Hospitalization area, and leave behind the rooms for up to six people that were in El Pino. , comments the doctor.
The specialties were gradually incorporated into the new assistance spacel. In fact, the process took almost a year. «Many areas had to be conditioned and we needed to have new materials such as special beds and stretchers. Meanwhile, there was mixed attention between El Pino and Negrín,” says the same source.
The choice of the name of the complex sparked a debate. Some were betting on naming it the New General Hospital of Las Palmas. Others, however, wanted to call him The Pine II. One of the people who carried out a campaign to name the center after the Canarian doctor and last president of the Second Republic was Juan Medina, president of the Juan Negrín Foundation. The initiative was approved unanimously in January 1999 in the Parliament of the Canary Islands.
A provincial milestone
In the opinion of the specialist, The construction of the hospital became a milestone for the province of Las Palmas. In fact, in the words of Rodríguez, “it allowed progress in the concept of humanization of Medicine.” This episode caught his attention a lot. «In El Pino, we were always running from one place to another and suffering a lot of pressure, which prevented us from having close contact with the patients. Since Negrín opened, the staff began to be much more attentive and assume the concept that they had to help the population,” notes the nephrologist.
The extension of the center, the luminosity and the commitment to robotization surprised users. And, at that time, Negrín It was the only center in Spain that had robots – eight at that time – to transport clean clothes, pharmaceutical products, medical records and meals.
In addition to the realization of first heart transplant in December 2019, One of the great events that Dr. Rodríguez remembers having experienced was the arrival of the first two linear accelerators to the Radiotherapy service. The devices began to work on November 20, 2000. «This superseded cobalt therapy. Furthermore, the Canarian society was anxious that the schedules and dates could be met so that the wait for cancer patients would not be delayed,” she adds. Currently, there are six linear accelerators in the facilities of the Gran Canaria hospital.one of them robotic –Cyberknife–, which was also the first to be acquired in a public health system.
Added to this equipment are two brachytherapy systems, a hyperthermia equipment and a hyperbaric chamber. Now, the hospital is preparing to receive a cyclotron – a particle accelerator to produce radiopharmaceuticals – and a proton therapy device.
It should be noted that the center has made a great effort to promote research. So much so, that it can boast of having publications and projects recognized nationally and internationally. “We have been lucky enough to meet people who have a great interest in research work,” says the doctor.
“We participate in the design of healthcare services,” says Dr. Rodríguez.
According to the center’s latest report, The complex has 5,014 personnel, including doctors and nurses, as well as management and general services personnel.. Today, the Specialized Care Centers of Arucas, Gáldar and Casa del Mar (CAE’s), the San Roque de Guía Hospital, the Juan Carlos I Hospital and the multipurpose center attached to the latter are assigned to the Management.
Right now, Negrín is a reference center in the Canary Islands in allogeneic bone marrow transplant, unrelated hematopoietic transplant, heart transplant, lung transplant, deep brain stimulation, adult congenital heart disease surgery, Molecular Biology, Electron Microscopy, Radiotherapy in the Cyberknife modality and in high intensity treatment ( HIFU) to address diseases with movement disorders.
Also, it provides assistance to patients from Lanzarote who require attention in the specialties of Neurosurgery, Thoracic Surgery, Plastic Surgery, Maxillofacial Surgery and Angiology and Vascular Surgery.
Since its inauguration, it has had the figure of seven managers: Ruperto Matas (between 1999 and 2001); Evelia Lemes (between 2001 and 2006); José Miguel Sánchez (between 2006 and 2007, and between 2010 and 2016); Eduardo Estaún (between 2007 and 2010); Pedro Rodríguez (between 2016 and 2019, and between 2020 and 2023); Jesús Morera (between 2019 and 2020); and Miguel Ángel Ponce, currently in office.