Catalan parliament urges activation of Andorra cross‑border health protocol

The Parliament of Catalonia’s Commission on Foreign Action and the European Union unanimously approved a resolution urging the Catalan government to immediately implement the cross‑border healthcare protocol signed with Andorra in February 2023, saying its practical deployment remains pending more than two years after signature.

Tabled by Junts per Catalunya, the text asks the Department of Health to finalise specific agreements with the Andorran Health Care System (SAAS) on which services may be provided to Catalan patients in Andorra and how referrals and funding will be channelled. It calls for immediate clarification of which hospital services, specialties and intensive care resources can be integrated into the cooperation framework so residents of the Pyrenees and Alt Urgell benefit without further delay.

The resolution highlights the Hospital Nostra Senyora de Meritxell — located about 15–20 kilometres from La Seu d’Urgell — as capable of assuming many of the consultations, diagnostic tests and hospital admissions currently referred to more distant centres such as Lleida’s Arnau de Vilanova and Barcelona’s Vall d’Hebron. It explicitly cites the potential, in certain cases, for access to Meritxell’s intensive care unit. “The development of the protocol is indispensable to guarantee closer, faster and more efficient care,” said deputy Jordi Fàbrega, who argued clinicians in Alt Urgell should decide which tests, consultations or admissions can safely be provided at Meritxell.

Catalonia’s current cross‑border cooperation with Andorra rests on a 2010 bilateral agreement that already permits some services — including dialysis, bronchoscopy and collaborations in radiology and anatomical pathology — to be performed in Andorra, while Andorran patients access highly specialised treatments in Catalan hospitals such as transplants and oncology. The 2023 protocol is intended to broaden that framework through concrete accords between the Generalitat’s Department of Health and SAAS to define new specialties and services that can be offered from both sides of the border.

The parliamentary text recalls that the legislature had previously urged the government to advance the protocol before the end of 2023 and notes the creation of a Commissioner for Inter‑Pyrenean Relations, but says no significant progress has been made to date. Proponents argue that activating the protocol would improve accessibility, reduce long patient journeys and optimise existing health resources, and point to cooperation during the Covid‑19 pandemic as evidence that transfrontier coordination is viable and effective.

The resolution therefore demands that the Department of Health specify, jointly with SAAS, which services and ICU capacities can be included, and set out the mechanisms for referrals, financing and clinical criteria so the agreement is translated into concrete improvements for border communities and the Alt Pirineu.