The Government declares the general interest of the new Terres de l'Ebre Hospital

The Government has declared the general interest of the Project for the new University Hospital of the Terres de l’Ebre, intended to progressively replace the current University Hospital of Tortosa Verge de la Cinta. The decision was adopted on September 22, 2026, and is published in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya (DOGC) no. 9758, of September 25, 2026, under the reference CVE-DOGC-A-26265047-2026.

The instrument is Agreement GOV/233/2026, of September 22, included in the OTHER PROVISIONS section of the DOGC and promoted by the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition. The agreement is approved upon the joint proposal of the Minister of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition and the Minister of Health, and is signed by the Secretary of the Government, Javier Villamayor Caamaño.

A reference hospital for more than 190,000 people

The current University Hospital of Tortosa Verge de la Cinta is the reference hospital for the Terres de l’Ebre Health Region, which includes:

• Montsià
• Baix Ebre
• Terra Alta
• Ribera d’Ebre
• two populations of Priorat

It serves a reference population of more than 190,000 people. According to the agreement, the renovation responds to structural limitations regarding accessibility, mobility, and the growth of the current facilities, as well as the requirement for a health facility with criteria of quality, safety, efficiency, and high resolution.

Care, teaching, and research in a single environment

The project integrates into a single functional environment:

• the reference care spaces of the Terres de l’Ebre Health Region
• the teaching and clinical training spaces linked to the Rovira i Virgili University
• the research, innovation, and clinical simulation spaces and circuits linked to the Biomedical Research Institute of Southern Catalonia and the Chair of Innovation and Simulation in Health of the Terres de l’Ebre
• the infrastructures and services necessary for the operation of the complex

Collaborating entities include the Department of Health, the Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition, the Catalan Health Service, the Catalan Institute of Health, and the Tortosa City Council. The Catalan Institute of Health has already tendered and awarded the drafting of the functional plan for the future hospital.

Urban planning, mobility, and energy supply

The implementation is planned within the scope of the Strategic Residential Area (ARE) Raval de la Llet, where urban planning instruments and mobility studies are being promoted. The Department of Territory, Housing and Ecological Transition and the Tortosa City Council have signed a collaboration protocol to process the planning, guarantee the availability of the land, and ensure the viability of the accessibility road infrastructures.

The action also requires coordinating healthcare transport and emergencies and functional integration with the hospital network of the territory, especially with the Hospital Comarcal de Móra d’Ebre and the Hospital Comarcal d’Amposta. The declaration is made, among other effects, for the energy-related measures of Royal Decree-Law 7/2026, of March 20, which approves the Comprehensive Response Plan to the crisis in the Middle East.

Scope of the declaration

The Catalan Health Service has submitted the justificatory and economic report of the project, which proves the concurrence of essential public purposes regarding health protection, territorial equity, university teaching, research, and innovation. The agreement determines that the declaration covers:

• the planning, processing, execution, implementation, and commissioning of the project
• the functional plan
• urban planning and management and the availability of land
• mobility and accessibility
• energy supply, urbanization, and service connections
• financing instruments and institutional coordination

The declaration does not predetermine the content of the urban, sectoral, organizational, or financial instruments that must be approved to execute it.

For the Terres de l’Ebre, the agreement is the formal step that enables the set of public actions for the future hospital and recognizes its dimension of territorial equity: equalizing the health outcomes of the population of southern Catalonia with those of the country as a whole, reducing inequalities derived from geographical dispersion and population aging.

Source: Official Gazette of the Generalitat de Catalunya, no. 9758, September 25, 2026, OTHER PROVISIONS (official reference: CVE-DOGC-A-26265047-2026).