SDP Leader Urges Faster Progress on Andorra's New Health Research Institute

Susanna Vela, leader of the Social Democratic Party's parliamentary group, has urged the Andorran government and the University of Andorra (UdA) to expedite the strategic plan for the new University Research Institute for Health. The planned institute, housed within the parapublic education sector, is expected to take over key functions from the recently dissolved National Epidemiology Laboratory, including public health monitoring.

Speaking to Altaveu after reviewing government documents she requested several weeks ago, Vela expressed significant concerns about the project's progress. The response, she said, only deepened her doubts rather than resolving them. "We understand this is a major undertaking, but we still don't know what human and technical resources it will require," she noted.

Vela highlighted several unresolved issues. No clear budget allocation has been set aside to launch the institute, despite reports of staff already being hired without a defined scope for the centre. She stressed the need for a strategic plan to outline its development, which would depend on input from a yet-to-be-formed advisory council. "We need to see it—who will be hired and what experience they will have in health sciences and research," she added. No timeline exists for producing this document.

The MP from Escaldes-Engordany criticised the government for dissolving the epidemiology lab via decree without sufficient advance planning for its replacement. She questioned the decision to close the lab, which she described as more operationally focused, in favour of a new entity oriented towards research and study. With no national centre currently operational—following the lab's closure and the hospital's own facility ceasing to function as such—Vela called on the UdA to prepare an extraordinary budget to establish its own replacement promptly.