Costa Blanca

The Valencian healthcare system achieved the historic record of 696 transplants in 2024

The President of the Generalitat Carlos Mazón praised the healthcare system in the Valencian Community for reaching a record number of transplants and organ donors in 2024. This shows that “we are a leader in this area and a model for the scientific community.”

In this way, the data in 2024 reflect a total of 696 organ transplants, which represents a growth of 14.3% and 305 donors, which represents 11.3% more than in 2023, which “accredits the extraordinary work of Valencian public health professionals”.

This was expressed by the head of the Council during the presentation of the balance sheet for the 2024 financial year that took place at the Hospital de La Fe in an event together with the Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, and the coordinator of Transplants of the Valencian Community, Rafael Badenes.

The head of the Council has shown his pride in the “solidarity and generosity” of the donors and their families and has highlighted the “great work of healthcare professionals and the entire team that participates in the donation and transplantation process for their professionalism and dedication 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.”

In fact, he stated that “there are 150 people on average involved in this process” between healthcare workers, security forces or logistics personnel, and he emphasized “the effort, exemplarity and human and technical quality” of the professionals of the Valencian public system.

The president highlighted that “this excellence positions us as one of the regions of more than five million inhabitants with the highest donation rate in the world”. Thus, in 2024 the number of deceased donors was 305 from whom several organs can be extracted, to which must be added living donors.

The data shows that the donor rate in the Valencian Community is 57.4 per million population, which places us above the national average of 52.6. In addition, the example of the province of Castellón with 95 donors per million population as “the highest in the world” should be highlighted.

Likewise, the data from the Valencian Community are well ahead of the European average, which is 22 donors per million population and in the case of Germany, 11 donors per million population. Furthermore, it should be noted that in the world, 90% of patients who need an organ die on the waiting list “while in our community this rate is 5%. For this reason, the head of the Council has assured that these data “encourage us to move forward and not fall into complacency to improve these results”.

During his speech, the president once again claimed the funding that “our country needs because it is for our public health system which, despite this, continues to be an international benchmark and is capable of offering data above the Spanish average.”

La Fe is the hospital in Spain that performs the most transplants.

In the balance of 2024, the Valencian Community has closed the year with a total of 696 transplants, with historical records in kidney, lung or heart transplants.

Specifically, 402 kidney transplants were performed, 13.2% more than the previous year, 100 lung transplants, with an increase of 35.1%, and 47 heart transplants, which are 34.3% more than in 2023. 140 liver transplants and 7 pancreas transplants were also carried out.

It should be noted that the La Fe Hospital in Valencia has once again positioned itself as a reference center both nationally and worldwide with 395 transplants, and is thus the hospital center in Spain that performs the most transplants, ahead of Vall d’Hebron.

In addition, it is the first in Spain with the highest number of liver transplants (105) and heart transplants (47). It has also carried out 136 kidney transplants, 100 lung transplants and seven pancreas transplants.

Likewise, it is necessary to refer to the fact that, among the transplants carried out, 23 have been in pediatric patients, with a growth of 76.9% compared to the previous year and which reaffirms the commitment of the Generalitat to implementing a program of prioritizing children.

Similarly, the Valencian Community has positioned itself as an innovative and pioneering region in Spain in the implementation of controlled asystole donation (DAC) with cardiac recovery with the implementation of 39 procedures, 11 of these in the La Fe Hospital itself, 23 in hospital centers in the Valencian Community (mobile cardiac DAC program) and 5 outside the Community.

In this regard, it should be noted that Hospital La Fe began the pediatric cardiac CAD program in 2024 and has positioned itself as the only hospital center in Spain that has extracted hearts and lungs for different pediatric recipients.

On the other hand, in the Doctor Balmis hospital in Alicante during the year 2024, 69 kidney transplants and 35 liver transplants were carried out, while in the General University Hospital of Elche 40 kidney transplants were undertaken. In the University Clinical Hospital of Valencia 4 kidney transplants were carried out and 64 in the Doctor Peset, and 52 kidney transplants in the General Hospital of Castellón.

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Alicante fireworks fire update – one dead, four injured

Firefighters have found the lifeless body of the pyrotechnician from Alicante Pedro Luis Sirvent inside his workshop, located in the Fontcalent area of Alicante, after a tragic explosion that occurred on Thursday morning for reasons that are still being investigated. The incident also caused four injuries, one of them seriously, with burns on 80% of his body, according to emergency services sources.

One of the injured is the son of the pyrotechnic artist and has suffered an anxiety attack, for which he has been treated at the scene of the tragedy. A 43-year-old woman has been taken by ambulance to the General Hospital of Alicante for anxiety attacks and mild smoke inhalation. The most seriously injured person, a 68-year-old man, has been transferred by helicopter to the Burns Unit of the La Fe hospital in Valencia.

The incident occurred at around 11.20 am, when, for reasons still to be clarified, a fire broke out in the warehouse area, where the material for the shows is sold to the public and stored. The Alicante Local Police were the first to arrive at the workshop. With the building still on fire, municipal security officers went in to rescue the victims, explained the mayor himself, Luis Barcala. The mayor was “very dismayed”, since Pedro Luis Sirvent was a very popular man at the Hogueras de San Juan.

Along with numerous emergency teams, police officers from the homicide, judicial, and explosives units (Tedax) have assembled in the area. Both José María Conesa, the top official of the Local Police of Alicante, and Manuel Lafuente, the provincial commissioner of the National Police, have visited the scene of the events.

Soon after, they were joined by the President of the Federació de Fogueres, David Olivares, the Bellea del Foc, Alba Muñoz, the Mayor of Alicante, Luis Barcala, the Councillor for Security, Julio Calero, and the Sub-delegate of the Government in Alicante, Juan Antonio Nieves, among other officials. Two helicopters, one of which was medicalised, two ambulances, and basic life support (SVB) were sent to the scene. Additionally present were firefighters from the Prevention, Extinction of Fires and Rescue Service (Speis) of Alicante and the Provincial Consortium of the Diputación, who used a drone to collect more accurate data on the explosion’s consequences.

To keep the fire from spreading to the location where the fireworks were being made, which is across the workshop’s central courtyard, firefighters have roped off the area.

The Fire Brigade has requested a temporary suspension of the Alicante-Madrid AVE line since the explosion caused some pyrotechnics to fly onto the railway lines. Train traffic had returned at 3:25 p.m.

As a show of unity, the Federació de Fogueres has halted all celebrations this Thursday and Friday. Additionally, the festive organisation has expressed the institutional aim of the Bellesses del Foc and their Dames d’Honor. David Olivares, the president, has visited Fontcalent to personally observe the dire circumstances.

Over 100 emergency workers participated in the effort, which illustrates the tragedy’s scope.

See the earlier story here https://costablancadaily.com/2025/03/06/a-fire-at-a-pyrotechnics-factory-injures-two/

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Three injured in head-on crash at El Campello

Two vehicles collided head-on at El Campello yesterday, Wednesday, March 5th, on the N-332 as it crosses Venta Lanuza.

The Cicu’s medical services transported the three injured individuals to various health facilities.

A 36-year-old lady with numerous bruises was sent to the Doctor Balmis General Hospital in Alicante, while a 20-year-old woman and a male were brought to a private hospital for their injuries.

Both accidents, the causes of which are being looked into, were assisted by the Guardia Civil and local police. Given that it has been raining almost all day in the region of Alicante, it is not completely ruled out that unfavourable weather conditions could have contributed to the disaster.

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EasyJet cancels a route from Alicante-Elche airport to UK

At Alicante-Elche Airport, EasyJet is now the second-busiest airline. Last spring, the company created a base at the Alicante terminal, which helped it raise passenger numbers by 12%.

The low-cost airline will now start two new routes with southern Europe, about a year after it first opened, as part of its ongoing investments in the El Altet airport. These are flights to Athens, one of the new destinations this summer at the airport, and Naples, which will be extended to the peak season.

EasyJet has terminated its connection to one of the UK cities, even though it increased the number of flights it operates in the spring and summer by nearly two digits compared to previous year. As a result, the airline will still operate flights to Belfast, but it will only link to Belfast City and no longer fly to Belfast International Airport.

This connection, which had two weekly frequencies and will no longer be available, was one of the new ones that came with the opening of its base. On its website, EasyJet lists three flights to Belfast George Best Airport, notwithstanding the cancellation.

Only on October 26th and 30th, as well as November 2nd, will flights from Alicante be able to reach this terminal. On the first day, the flight will leave at 7.20 am and arrive at 9.25 am. On the 30th, it will depart for Belfast at 3.30 pm and land at 5.35 pm. On Sunday, November 2nd, at 7.20 am, the final flight from Alicante will depart once more.

Nevertheless, EasyJet is expanding its frequencies in addition to keeping its connection to Belfast. It will begin operating its service to Belfast International seven days a week in March. In July, it will expand to nine weekly flights, with double frequency on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

In the lead-up to summer, Alicante-Elche airport will be cancelling more connections than just this one. Some airlines have announced the cancellation of flights to a number of their destinations, even though they are expanding during the busiest time of year.

Due to discrepancies in regional airport fees with AENA, Ryanair has discontinued its connection to Santander Airport. Additionally, it is discontinuing its route to Billund, Denmark’s LEGO city and one of its original routes in Alicante.

Another airline, Vueling, recently declared that it will be discontinuing services to a maximum of three locations. These are the links to Rome, Zurich, and Santiago. EasyJet, which has expanded to four weekly frequencies, will also operate the latter.