The Board will allocate 10.3 million to the headquarters of the State Public Health Agency in Grenada

The Board will allocate 10.3 million to the headquarters of the State Public Health Agency in Grenada. The Minister announced that yesterday the candidacy was presented to the central government under the slogan "Granada is public health"

The Minister of Health, Presidency and Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, presented this Thursday in Granada, together with the minister of Development, Articulation of the Territory and Housing, Rocío Díaz; the mayor of Granada, Marifrán Carazo, the rector of the University of Granada, Pedro Mercado and the president of the Provincial Council of Granada, Francisco Pedro Rodríguez, the candidacy of the city of Granada as the headquarters of the State Agency for Public Health, which yesterday afternoon was formally presented to the Government of Spain. "Granada and this candidacy offer the best solution for this project and it is, without a doubt, the best option and the most solvent proposal", said the Minister during the presentation ceremony at the headquarters of the Andalusian School of Public Health (EASP). 

Antonio Sanz explained that the Regional Government of Andalusia will allocate more than 10.3 million euros for the implementation of the State Public Health Agency in Grenada, if elected by the central government. Thus, he has detailed that 300,000 euros will be invested in the initial headquarters, in the Andalusian School of Public Health; and the rest, that is, almost ten million, will be used for the rehabilitation and technological equipment of the final headquarters, in the former San Cecilio Clinical Hospital, "headquarters that will be fully in the shortest possible time, in accordance with the deadlines stipulated by the Ministry". 

The Minister of Health has also revealed more details of the candidacy under the slogan Granada is public health, which seeks to"promote from Andalusia the leadership of Spain in the surveillance and management of new diseases and their subsequent transfer to the citizenry, in a context of complex health threats and an accelerated technological transformation ". 

Sanz recalled that Granada offers two locations, "and with it the possibility of starting the Agency's activity immediately". A provisional one at the headquarters of the School of Public Health"so that from minute one it can be operational to house the first 60 people that the agency will have in its first phase of implementation". And a definitive one, in the former San Cecilio Clinical Hospital, "where up to 300 professionals will be incorporated and which, with more than 6,000 square meters, exceeds the minimum area required by the Government to host the headquarters of the State Public Health Agency and will have all the necessary equipment ". 

This conforms, the counselor stressed, "a solvent proposal, which offers agility and guarantees to start the journey of this institution in a well-connected, accessible enclave in an environment and with ideal conditions for the development of the professionals who will be part of it". 

All this without forgetting, the Minister remarked, that "Granada is the only city that has a Park Technology dedicated to Life and Health Sciences, an innovative ecosystem where companies, research centers, universities and health centers with more than 8,000 professionals and more than 500 million euros in turnover converge ". 

Antonio Sanz has shown his conviction that "Granada has the best project and is the best option" before other cities that aspire to become the headquarters of this Agency. "I hope that this time Grenada deserves the response it deserves from the Government of the nation," said the Minister of Health, who assured that "Grenada is owed". Likewise, he has shown confidence that "he knows how to assess a candidacy prepared with the utmost rigor and total responsibility and does not return to prioritize criteria and only criteria of general interest, technical and scientific criteria to make the decision and that what happened with the Spanish Agency for the Supervision of Artificial Intelligence does not happen again. ""Then as now, "said Sanz, "Granada presented the best candidacy. I only hope that the general interest, public health and respect for institutions and scientific community ".

"I am convinced that with this candidacy, "the counselor concluded, "not only will Granada, Andalusia, but Spain and the objectives we share in public health will win, "in addition to"between 250 and 300 highly qualified direct jobs and between 375 and 600 indirect jobs that will join the project. "

For her part, the Mayor of Granada, Marifrán Carazo stressed that "Granada today represents one of the most solid and advanced ecosystems in the country in training, research and innovation in public health, thanks to the promotion of the Health Technology Park, the excellence of the University of Granada and the extensive experience of the Andalusian School of Public Health. This is a mature, rigorous and broadly supported, which shows that Granada has everything to host the headquarters of the State Public Health Agency and contribute, from Andalusia, to the strengthening of the public health system of Spain. "

State Health Agency Candidacy Keys 

Since the Andalusian Government made the decision to launch this candidacy, more than one thirty meetings and working groups in which professionals from different fields have shared their knowledge in this candidacy. It is, therefore, according to Sanz, "an example of collaboration and shared unconditional support" in which 70 institutions, companies and scientific societies have converged. 

The candidacy, which already has all the information available in its website (https://www.aesapcandidaturagranada.es/) is based on the fact that Granada has a set of urban, scientific and academic characteristics that make it the ideal city to host this headquarters. To its social, cultural and quality of life conditions is added the presence of one of the most consolidated ecosystems in the country in the field of public health, biosanitary research, specialized training and international cooperation, which constitutes an asset of enormous relevance for the construction of public health policies based on evidence and oriented to the real impact on health. 

The central differential element of this candidacy is the presence in Granada, for 40 years, of the School Andalusian Public Health, with more than 130 professionals, a national and international reference institution in all areas of public health, health management, training of professionals, applied research and international cooperation. He has extensive experience in national, European, Latin American and Mediterranean projects, in fully aligned areas for the purposes of the State Agency: public health surveillance, risk assessment and communication, health emergency preparedness and response, health equity, social determinants, One Health approach and global health. 

Next to the school, Granada has a first-rate scientific and technological ecosystem, articulated around the University of Granada, the Institute of Biosanitary Research IBIS Granada, the Health Technology Park (PTS), the centers of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the Biobank of the Public Health System of Andalusia and an extensive network of university hospitals, primary care centers and research and innovation structures in health sciences. Another of the strengths of this candidacy lies in the fact that the Andalusian Public Health System, the largest with a workforce of 1,495 workers, accounts for 18% of the national total. 

Finally, in relation to the specific proposals included in the candidacy, a set of measures to support professional integration, family reunification of staff who have to move to the new headquarters of the Agency, access to educational, health and social services, as well as accompanying measures for incorporation into the work and residential environment or financial and logistical support, aimed at facilitating the transfer, installation and adequate performance of personnel in the new headquarters. 

Source: Andalusian School of Public Health