War between Moncloa and Madrid for the headquarters of the Center for Public Health

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

One day before the bill for the creation of

reaches the

, the government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, declared yesterday, during an interview on TVE, that its future location will not be in

.

Although it has not been decided where this fundamental body for the fight against future pandemics will take place, the Government's intention is that "the State be throughout the territory," said Rodríguez.

This statement was found yesterday with the response of the Minister of Health of Madrid,

, who described this decision as a "strategic error", because in the Community of Madrid there is "maximum activity".

"The National Center for Public Health has to have a meaning after what has been experienced in the pandemic, which serves to give the maximum support to the public health of the Spanish national system," Ruiz Escudero pointed out, adding: "We have to think about set up the centers to get the most out of them, not to compensate for political favors that the Prime Minister has to do”, alluding to the parliamentary procedure that must pass the norm in order to get ahead and that will require the support of the nationalists.

The Valencian Community

,

and, more recently,

, have publicly expressed their interest in hosting the center.

In this sense, Rodríguez insisted that "there is no closed candidacy" and announced that an administrative procedure of "competitive competition" will be opened, which will lead to comparing the candidates.

With the decision to locate the new center outside of Madrid, the Government spokesperson said she hoped that "synergies" would be generated that would favor "territorial cohesion, a way also of favoring cohesion from a social point of view."

However, there are voices in the scientific world that question the wisdom of this decision, bearing in mind that this center will have to work very closely with the

(ISCIII), located in Madrid, or other national organizations that They are located in the capital.

To what extent can this be a problem when networking is already widespread?

“Most of the Public Health functions are transferred to the autonomous communities.

So it makes perfect sense that the center is not in Madrid, because with it they want to generate synergies throughout the territory, ”replies

, vice president of the

(Sespas).

The objective to be achieved with this organization is “to be prepared not only to face a new pandemic, but also to address other challenges such as climate change, the progression of tropical infectious diseases, energy poverty...”.

In his arguments, Satué explains that the work dynamic that must govern this institution is that of "networking with the 17 Public Health Institutes that exist in each autonomous community and with the ISCIII," he adds.

However, the ISCIII carries out very relevant research and study work and its location is in Madrid, something that the vice president of Sespas admits, but, at the same time, argues: «The network work structure is long-term and cannot be limited or conditioned because the ISCIII is in Madrid.

Actually, the work is going to be so networked that it will not matter whether the State Public Health Center is near or far from the ISCIII».

"Wherever the center is located, it must have good communication capacity, means of transport and clear support for the autonomy to develop it, with an important research network in biomedicine and public health, as well as personnel," explains Satué.

In any case, the representative of Sespas emphasizes that for the center to succeed "there must be a political will from all the autonomous communities, a seamless support and not subject to the government of the day."

, vice president of the

, considers that the discussion about the location of the new body is a very secondary issue, since "the challenges are going to be other".

In any case, he sees positive that this body is decentralized.

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