Out-of-hours healthcare
Not all medical issues can wait. In fact, a lot of them happen at the most inconvenient times. Luckily, there are a three medical centres (‘centros de salud’) which are open out of hours for emergency treatment.
From 8pm to 8am from Monday to Friday, and 24 hours at weekends and on public holidays, these health centres operate exclusively as Emergency departments (Urgencias).
Of course, arriving without an appointment, you are likely to have to wait to be seen so arriving as early in the day as possible is advised.
Unfortunately, none of these health centres are located in the Malaga city centre, but they are on bus routes or within a 20-minute taxi ride:
- Centro de Salud Cruz de Humilladero (Calle Reboul, 37, 29006 Málaga) is the closest to the city centre. It is on the western side of the river, located in the neighbourhood behind María Zambrano train station. Buses 1, 4 and 7 will get you there.
- The El Palo health centre (Av. Salvador Allende, 159, 29018 Málaga) is located in the eastern part of the city: you can get the 3 or 11 bus there – about a 20-minute ride from the Alameda.
- Puerta Blanca (Av. Gregorio de Diego, 46, 29004 Málaga) is on the western side of the river, close to La Térmica. You can get the number 7 bus there from the Alameda.
Note: If you or someone else is dealing with a serious emergency, of course you should go directly to the Urgencias department of the closest hospital. The closest to Malaga city centre is the Hospital Regional Universitario (formerly Carlos Haya).
Daryl moved to Malaga permanently in 2014 having first fallen in love with the city on his Erasmus year. After working for many years at local expat newspaper SUR in English, Daryl gained expert knowledge in life from the perspective of foreign residents and decided to co-found Malaga Guru in 2016.