On October 9, 2026, the Minister of Health, Antonio Gómez Caamaño, highlighted that the Álvaro Cunqueiro Public Hospital is a national reference due to its new advanced endoscopy and interventional unit, which performs high-complexity procedures and can increase activity by up to 30%.
During his visit to the new facility, Gómez Caamaño was accompanied by Alfredo Silva, the General Director of Integration and Health Innovation at the Galician Health Service (Servizo Galego de Saúde), Javier Puente, the manager of the Vigo health area, and professionals from the Digestive System and Anesthesia and Resuscitation services.
With the launch of this unit, Gómez Caamaño noted that high-complexity endoscopic procedures, which previously had to be performed in operating rooms or radiology areas due to the need for anesthetic or radiological support, are now concentrated in one space. This reorganization allows for the freeing up of operating rooms and radiology rooms for other patients and increases the capacity of the Digestive System Service, which currently handles around 18,000 endoscopic procedures per year.
New medical equipment and clinical furniture
The new room is equipped with high-performance technology, including two endoscopy towers, four echoendoscopes, two colonoscopes, two gastroscopes, and two high-performance ultrasound machines, along with the necessary complementary equipment for various interventional procedures. Gómez Caamaño stated that the Galician Health Service invested €920,000 in this medical equipment and clinical furniture necessary for its establishment.
This equipment enables the execution of high-complexity diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, including punctures of pancreatic lesions, drainages, sample collections, placement of prostheses and dilations, as well as endoscopic removal of complex tumors or polyps that previously required surgery.
The Minister of Health mentioned that biliary endoscopy is one of the techniques particularly benefited by the new infrastructure, as it combines endoscopy, radiology, and anesthesia, requiring high coordination and technological capability. Therefore, it represents a benefit for patients, as advancements in endoscopy allow for minimally invasive techniques that previously required conventional surgery. This, according to Gómez Caamaño, reduces the invasiveness of procedures, risks, and in some cases, also the need for hospitalization.
Gómez Caamaño praised the knowledge, coordination, and significant organizational effort of the professionals involved in launching this facility, incorporating technical innovations and achieving increasingly specialized and higher-quality patient care. He also emphasized the importance of the educational and training aspects, noting that the unit is prepared to transmit procedures to any center in the world and has already hosted a course on biliopancreatic interventional techniques, which included specialists from Galicia and other hospitals in Spain.
