The Council of Ministers authorized this Tuesday, on the proposal of the Ministry of Health, to allocate more than one million euros (1,003,240€) to Asturias for health cohesion programs and transplants. The total investment amounts to 50.2 million euros (50,268,707.07€) to be distributed between the autonomous communities and the National Institute of Health Management (INGESA), for implementation in Ceuta and Melilla, aimed at the development of health cohesion programs, training of professionals, rational use of medicines and different actions related to donation and transplantation. The funds come from the contributions by volume of sales to the National Health System made by companies and business groups engaged in the manufacture, import or offer to the SNS of medicines and health products dispensed by prescription or order of dispensation. The collection obtained for this concept amounts to 63,068,707.07 euros. Of this amount, 12.8 million euros are allocated to dependent agencies and management centers of the Ministry of Health and the remaining 50.27 million are transferred to the autonomous communities and INGESA to develop the different actions.
Health cohesion and training for the rational use of medicines
The main item, endowed with 46.1 million euros, of which about one million euros (€ 973,445) correspond to Asturias, is intended for the development of health cohesion policies and continued training in the rational use of medicines. Eligible actions include programmes to improve pharmaceutical care for chronic, fragile or polymedicated patients; boost prescribing and e-prescribing; strengthen pharmacovigilance and the fight against antibiotic resistance; and improve plasma self-sufficiency and access to high-impact therapies. The funds will also fund the continued training of professionals in the rational use of medicines, quality and safety of care, health alerts, resistance to antibiotics and evaluation of medicines and health technologies, as well as patient participation programs and health education for citizens. The distribution combines a fixed amount for each autonomous community and INGESA and a distribution of the rest of the funds according to the population. National Bone Marrow Donation Plan and the National Umbilical Cord Blood Plan The Ministry of Health will allocate 3.4 million euros to the National Bone Marrow Donation Plan and the National Umbilical Cord Blood Plan, of which 29,795 euros correspond to Asturias. These funds will finance actions to inform and promote bone marrow donation, donor typing and other determinations, the accreditation of collection and transplant centers for hematopoietic progenitors, the analysis of umbilical cord blood units stored in public banks and measures to facilitate the recruitment of new donors and improve accessibility to the Spanish Registry of Bone Marrow Donors (REDMO).
The distribution takes into account, according to each action, criteria such as the population between 18 and 40 years old, the number of donors, the activity of the centers or the units of umbilical cord blood stored.
INGESA will transfer the amount of 2,484.28 euros corresponding to the cities of Ceuta (898 euros) and Melilla (1,585 euros), which adds a National Total of 3,427,693 euros
In addition, 700,000 euros are intended to strengthen quality and safety in organ procurement and transplantation and to optimize the information systems managed by the National Transplant Organization (ONT). Of this amount, 200,000 euros correspond to the Quality and Safety Framework Programme for the procurement and transplantation of human organs and 500,000 euros to the improvement of the information systems of the ONT. The distribution of these funds takes into account, respectively, the transfers of organs for transplantation between autonomous communities carried out in 2025 and the number of cases in follow-up with updated data in 2024. The distribution criteria were agreed with the autonomous communities in the Permanent Commission of Pharmacy of May 6, 2026. Projects can be used for both staff costs and investments. With this distribution, Health promotes common actions throughout the SNS to improve the quality and safety of care, promote the rational use of medicines and strengthen donation and transplant programs.