Sanitas wins contract for €137m Horta Manises scheme

BUPA's Spanish arm Sanitas has won a government tender to build and run a large new public hospital in the Manises area of Valencia, Spain. Sanitas has formed a consortium with Ribera Salud, a firm owned by local Spanish savings banks, to carry out the €137m scheme that is expected to begin early next year.

The 15 year PFI contract for the Valencia government involves building and managing the Horta Manises hospital as well as updating and running primary care centres in the region, building a new health centre in Turis and renovating a specialist centre in Aldaya.

Sanitas chief executive, Pablo Juantegui said: "This news confirms our backing of the new model of mixed public/private management and we hope to contribute great value to the Valencian health system by helping to cut waiting times and provide patients with the latest technologies and treatments. It will enable us to be at the cutting edge of hospital management in Spain."

The new hospital will employ 700 staff and treat 140,000 people in the province. It will be the biggest of Sanitas' three hospitals, the other two of which are in Madrid.

The Hospital will include over 200 bedrooms, 10 large operating theatres and a large outpatient department. As well as general surgery, it will provide a neonatal unit, obstetrics, dialysis, oncology and chemotherapy treatment and MRI scans.