Old and small for its activity, the transfer of the Clínic hospital in Barcelona is an old pending issue. After long deliberations, a year ago its new location was definitively chosen: the upper part of Diagonal, in the space now occupied by the sports facilities of the University of Barcelona (UB). Although part of the services will continue in the current buildings, according to its promoters, the expansion of the medical center will have positive effects beyond the Catalan capital, enhancing the commitment to research in the field of health that is being carried out in the area. metropolitan, specifically in cities such as l’Hospitalet and Esplugues de Llobregat.
This Monday, an agreement was signed between administrations that is like a symbolic first stone to make the project a reality. They stamped their rubric Pere Aragonès, president of the Generalitat; Jaume Collboni, mayor of Barcelona; Josep Maria Campistol, director general of the Clínic hospital; Joan Guàrdia, chancellor of the UB; and Lluïsa Moret, president of the Provincial Council of Barcelona. But the mayor of Hospitalet de Llobregat, Núria Marín, also signed the document; and that of Esplugues de Llobregat, Pilar Díaz. For the first time, these two metropolitan cities, adjacent to the Clinic’s new location, were included in the equation of this process.
Eloquent in the metropolitan importance of the matter were the words heard in the Palau de la Generalitat. “Today is much more than an agreement. We draw the future line of Barcelona, ??the metropolitan area and Catalonia, betting on health and research,” said Pere Aragonès. “We will make the Clínic hospital one of the most advanced health campuses in Europe,” the president aspired. The faculties of Medicine and Pharmacy will also be added to the enclave. We want to combine healthcare with research and teaching.
According to Jaume Collboni, the project will contribute to a “metropolitan Barcelona without peripheries, but with new centralities.” “Without the support of the mayors this would not be possible,” acknowledged the mayor of Barcelona himself.
In l’Hospitalet and Esplugues they celebrate the initiative. The move of the Clínic to their borders will give them more metropolitan centrality and they hope that it will help the projects they have been working on for a long time to receive a boost.
“It is a health hub that, together with the Health and Innovation Biocluster of l’Hospitalet, will position the metropolitan area of ??Barcelona as the great reference center in biomedicine in southern Europe,” considers the mayor of the second city of Catalonia. , Núria Marín. There they have been working for some time to create a space dedicated to this area, of which important institutions such as the Bellvitge hospital and the Catalan Institute of Oncology are already part. They are waiting for companies related to this area to land thanks to an urban reform that is not exempt from certain criticism and that today remains administratively stuck.
Esplugues has been working side by side with l’Hospitalet for a long time, with Sant Joan de Déu and the Pediatric Cancer Center among other organizations in the field. “The action will enhance the positioning of our medical and biotechnological innovation district in the European framework and will be the driving force of the scientific and economic transformation of the upper Diagonal sector, generating a pole of growth, attraction of talent and resources of international reach in the healthcare, university and technological fields,” says the mayor of Esplugues, Pilar Díaz.
Although the objectives and participants in the project are clear, the financing and schedule of the new Clínic remain unknown. In an event without questions from the press, this Monday no information was offered on these issues. “Today a preparation stage ends that allows for an inter-institutional agreement,” said the Health Minister of the Generalitat, Manel Balcells. Some estimates put the project at 1.5 billion euros. At the moment, it is not known who will pay for them. Under no circumstances will the transfer of the Clinic take place in the short term. However, the governance of the project was defined, which will end with the constitution of a consortium. Each party undertakes to facilitate development in a manner consistent with its competencies.
“We have been dreaming of this day for years, the Clínic has become old and somewhat small,” said the general director of the hospital center, Josep Maria Campistol. “There is still a lot to do, but we have absolute confidence in these fellow travelers,” concluded the rector of the UB, Joan Guàrdia.
