Dr. Albert Jovell, the Director of the UIC's Global Institute of Public Health and Health Policy and the Vice President of the Catalan Patient Advisory Service, was named a member of the commission that will draw up the document of basic guidelines for the National Health Pact. The constituent meeting of the commission's plenary session took place on Thursday, 30 May 2013.
The commission is assigned with the task of guiding, mediating and drafting the document of basic guidelines for the Health Pact and working directly with parliamentary groups and the principal agents in the Catalan healthcare system. The commission forms part of the Catalan Ministry of Health, which will provide the infrastructure and logistical and technical support necessary for the commission to carry out its functions.
It is made up of spokespeople from the Catalan Parliament’s Health Commission and representatives of all the institutions that form part of the Catalan Health Council. Therefore, as Vice President of the Catalan Patient Advisory Service, Dr. Jovell is entitled to be a member of the commission.
At a meeting of the Catalan Health Commission on Wednesday, 6 February 2013, the Health Minister offered to create a forum of discussion between political parties and principal agents in the healthcare field in order to shield the public healthcare system from constant political confrontation. The commission for the National Health Pact was created as a result this offer. Its creation also complies with a motion on health policy passed by the Catalan Parliament on Thursday, 28 February 2013, which gave the government six months to create a document of basic guidelines for the National Health Pact to ensure the sustainability, quality and equality of the universal, public healthcare system in Catalonia.
