The challenges of the State Center for Public Health, beyond its approval

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A month later than what was announced by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during the last State of the Nation Debate, the Council of Ministers on August 23 will approve the bill for the creation of

.

This was confirmed this Tuesday by Sánchez during his visit to the island of

But will this legislature see the light?

This body was already provided for in the

but it was never carried out and, according to experts in this discipline, it would have been a very useful tool for controlling the Covid pandemic.

In this way, and as one of the lessons learned from the SARS-CoV-2 crisis, the political parties agreed on the need to launch their constitution in the

, including it in the roadmap that It was agreed to get out of the health crisis.

This Centre, as Sánchez acknowledged in his speech before Parliament in mid-July, will serve to "improve the management of health emergencies" as it

reinforces public health in our country".

Its start-up was assumed as something urgent and a debate began on its scope and budget.

Finally, the draft Law for the Creation of the State Public Health Center was endowed with 9.45 million euros in 2022, within the General State Budgets (PGE), and entered into public consultation in September 2021. The announced approval of the bill in the Council of Ministers next Tuesday is a firm step in the constitution of this body, but it is far from being the definitive one.

"After approval by the Council of Ministers as a bill, it will begin its parliamentary process, in Congress and the Senate, which will last at least six months. It is expected that the debate on the law in both Chambers will focus on issues of competence between the different levels of the Administration, so it will depend a lot on the position of groups such as ERC and PNV", says

, professor of Administrative Law and magistrate on leave of absence, who has accompanied the construction of this bill in its beginnings.

With this time horizon, taking into account that the general elections are scheduled for November 2023, if there is no advance election, Palomar Olmeda considers that the Government does not have time to set up the Center during this legislature and insists that the key is to be in the position of the Autonomous Communities, especially of the nationalist groups, because the State does not have powers in public health beyond coordination, recalls the jurist.

More optimistic is

, director of the Health Law Research Group of

, who indicates that "the creation of the State Center for Public Health is excellent news in that it is a tool to strengthen health structures of our country. The most important issue in its parliamentary process will undoubtedly be fine-tuning the distribution of powers between the new Center and the autonomous communities as much as possible, promoting the principle of cooperation".

So, from the perspective of parliamentary deadlines,

there would be material time for the approval of the bill in this legislature, according to the jurist.

Location and address

To what extent the debate on the physical location of the State Center for Public Health may be a relevant issue in the approval of the norm, is something on which the experts consulted do not comment, although they recall that this body, by its nature , will work closely with the

, which is in

, "although right now everything can be done remotely," adds Palomar Olmeda.

In this sense, the

, collected in a report its commitment that the State Center for Public Health be located outside of Madrid and, in general, of any

company spokesperson, "for consistency with the decentralization policy followed by the Government".

"This decentralization of the headquarters suggested by

move - in Cayón's opinion - a powerful metaphor of the cooperative principle and the networking that should govern this matter".

What does this imply?

Well, that the State Center "must be a node that brings together not only the Autonomous Communities, but also other institutions that have to do with public health and others that do not work in public health specifically, such as the National Institute of Statistics", explains Hernández, who is also a professor of Public Health at the

From the

they refer to the press conference after the Council of Ministers next Tuesday to know more details of the approved text.

Will they then say where the Center will be located or who will be its director?

Ildefonso Hernández lowers expectations.

"I believe that these aspects will be fixed in the decrees that develop the law," he points out.

On the other hand, the representative of Sespas considers that there is enough time for Parliament to carry out the law creating the State Center for Public Health, although it is not so clear that in the next year there will be time to execute the planned budget of 9, €45 million.

What is known?

In any case, there are already issues that are known about the new Center, according to the Ministry of Health.

For example, that it will have "functional autonomy" and will be dedicated to "analysis and study, evaluation of policies and public interventions, technical advice, proposal of measures to the health authorities and preparation and coordination of response to health emergency situations."

Likewise, it will have personnel "with the highest scientific-technical training in the different areas and subjects."

"It will be a center of excellence that brings together the skills that have been scattered in this area until now: on the one hand, public health surveillance, risk assessments and analysis of the health situation of the Spanish population; and, on the other hand, preparation of the health system in the face of threats to public health, mainly of an epidemiological nature, and the coordination of responses".

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