Source: Col·legi Oficial de Metges de Girona (COMG)

The Official College of Physicians of Girona has created the Girona - Nou Trueta Health Campus Observatory, an independent body that, with a broad consensus of the health community and the business and social fabric of Girona, will monitor the project so that the campus becomes a reality as soon as possible or within the established timeframe.

The objective is to join forces to provide transparency and objectivity to the advances and/or obstacles that may arise in such a large and complex project and to overcome them in order to continue advancing towards such a necessary and long-awaited infrastructure. The observatory will carry out a periodic and public evaluation of the status of the project every 6 months.

The new campus should include the new Josep Trueta University Hospital, the faculties of Medicine and Nursing of the University of Girona and the Institute of Biomedical Research of Girona (IDIBGI), among other facilities.

The observatory will be headed by Dr. Ramon Brugada, Dr. Marga Nadal, Dr. Antoni Codina and Dr. Wifredo Ricart, who will form its permanent commission and will be responsible for obtaining the necessary follow-up information and making it public every six months: what progress has been made, what problems have arisen, whether the program is on schedule, and what are the next steps to be taken.

The Observatory has the support of the University of Girona, which will have new faculties of Medicine and Nursing on campus, the Girona Chamber of Commerce, due to the enormous economic and social repercussions of the project, the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), due to the essential research aspect of the campus, and the Official College of Nursing of Girona, due to the professional implications of the project for the group.

In addition, the observatory is open to receive the support of all those institutions, organizations, companies and/or individuals who are committed to making the new Josep Trueta Hospital and the Girona Health Campus a reality. The way to contact the observatory is observatori@comg.cat.

The COMG has directly informed the Minister of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya, Josep Maria Argimon, of the desire to promote this Observatory, as well as the delegation of Health in Girona, the management of ICS/IAS and the city councils of Girona and Salt, among other actors involved in the project.

The president of COMG, Josep Vilaplana, explained today at a press conference that "when the location of the new campus was determined, we suggested the creation of a project office that would be on top of each phase so that the actions would be fast, coordinated and successful to make the time short and efficient, given that it is a complex and long project". "Well, this same idea is what has led us to create the Girona-Nou Trueta Health Campus Observatory but opening it up to the entire healthcare community and the Girona business and social fabric because the key is to work together," adds Vilaplana.

"We are not here to complain or to confront anyone but we are here to collaborate and to work together and loyal to the institutions so that the health campus moves forward and the project remains on schedule," clarified Villaplana. "We are talking about an essential project for the counties of Girona and we are very tired of waiting. Girona, its inhabitants and its healthcare professionals deserve it," explained Vilaplana.

The director of IDIBGI, Dr. Marga Nadal, stressed that "the campus is a great opportunity that we cannot afford to miss and that the need to make it a reality is obvious". Also that "without research there is no good care, everything is a set to make a better medicine for all the counties of Girona".

Dr. Ramon Brugada, said that "this is the most important project of Girona in the next 100 years, with the implications of the biomedical campus" and that "we have a unique opportunity and we cannot afford to sleep".

For his part, Dr. Antoni Codina agreed on the importance of the health campus project and highlighted health as the "most important aspect of our lives without which nothing else makes sense".

Dr. Wifredo Ricart was unable to attend.