President Chivite states that PERTE Health investments in Navarre will have a direct impact on citizens’ quality of life

The President of Navarre, María Chivite Navascués, took part this Friday in the presentation of the PERTE (Strategic Project for Economic Recovery and Transformation) funds for Cutting-edge Health in Navarre. Specifically, she opened the event, where she stressed that these investments will have “a direct impact on citizens’ quality of life.”

In this regard, the President stated that healthcare is perceived as “the main challenge facing public services,” according to the Survey on citizens’ trust in institutions and their perception of public service delivery in Navarre. This challenge is compounded by “population ageing, the increase in chronic diseases, and changes in family structures.” “We are facing a profound transformation of our social structure, which also requires deep changes in public policies, in the healthcare industry, and in their modes of collaboration,” she insisted, while calling for “the application of collective intelligence to one of the great challenges of our time.”

The PERTE for Cutting-edge Health, promoted by the Government of Spain and coordinated with the regional government, aims to boost science, innovation, and digitalisation to protect citizens’ health while also generating opportunities for economic growth and strengthening the healthcare industrial sector.

In economic terms, as the President recalled during her speech, the plan has mobilised more than €43.9 million in the region, €42.7 million of which corresponds to public investment from the European Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan funds (€36.6 million in capital transfers and €6.2 million in loans), along with €1.1 million in private investment.

Specifically, most public funding has been allocated through competitive public calls (€27.9 million), as well as direct transfers based on distribution agreements in Navarre (€14.9 million).

During the event, held at the Iris Pole, the President was accompanied by the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Universities, Juan Cruz Cigudosa; the Government Delegate in Navarre, Alicia Echeverría; the Minister of Health, Fernando Domínguez; and the Minister for University, Innovation and Digital Transformation, Juan Luis García. Also participating were the Commissioner for the PERTE for Cutting-edge Health, Raquel Yotti; the Director of Navarrabiomed, Javier Gómez; the Scientific Director of the Centre for Applied Medical Research (CIMA), Antonio Pineda; the Director of Personalised Medicine and Laboratories at Nasertic, Gonzalo R. Ordóñez; and Jorge Marín, Head of R&D&I at IdiSNA.

Investments in Navarre

In her speech, President Chivite also reviewed the main investments under the PERTE within the region. She highlighted as a key initiative the development of the Personalised Digital Care Plan, with €5.3 million, which includes the rollout of a comprehensive platform for remote patient monitoring in Navarre, a portal for healthcare professionals’ clinical activity, and advanced therapies such as genetic, cellular, and tissue-based CAR-T therapies.

She also announced that a further €4.6 million is being allocated to the Primary and Community Care Plan, which includes investments in projects aimed at improving the overall security of Primary Care infrastructure.

Other investments mentioned by the President include over €500,000 for the “Únicas” project, aimed at improving healthcare for patients with rare diseases, neuromotor disorders, and ALS, as well as more than €700,000 for the SiGenES initiative, focused on consolidating Precision Medicine within the Navarre Health Service–Osasunbidea (specifically, the implementation of a genomics services portfolio).

Finally, Chivite referred to the €760,000 investment in the National Health Data Space project or “health data lake” (a repository of health data for improving diagnosis and treatments), and €470,000 for the “Genomics” project, which will expand the range of genetic tests available in the public health system through the purchase of two NextSeq 1000 sequencers.
 

PERTE for Cutting-edge Health

The strategic project is structured around four specific objectives. First, it aims to promote the equitable implementation of Precision Personalised Medicine as a tool to address new health challenges and their interaction with environmental, demographic, and socio-economic issues, while also fostering the strengthening, development, and creation of competitive companies based on knowledge generation.

Second, the PERTE seeks to promote the development of advanced therapies and other innovative or emerging medicines and to facilitate their transfer to clinical practice. To this end, it aims to establish the necessary partnerships between academia and business, and to strengthen the industrial fabric in this field.

Third, the plan aims to develop an innovative data system for collecting, processing, analysing, and exploiting data from different sources. The goal is to improve prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients, as well as health-oriented research.

Finally, the fourth objective is to drive the digital transformation of healthcare. This involves applying technology to all activities related to citizen interaction and resource management across all areas of care, with particular attention to strengthening primary care and ensuring equitable access to high-quality healthcare under secure cybersecurity conditions.

Source: navarra.es