In total, the Department of Health recorded 53 such incidents across healthcare facilities in all of Catalonia during 2025. In the Girona Health Region, the seven affected centers were the CAP La Selva in Santa Coloma de Farners, CAP Blanes 2, CAP Dr. Josep Alsina i Bofill in Palafrugell, the Clínica Salus Infirmorum in Banyoles, Clínica Girona (ground floor), the Hospital de Figueres, and the Hospital Universitari de Girona Doctor Josep Trueta (floor -2).
This information was made public following a response by the Health Minister, Olga Pané, to a parliamentary question posed by ERC deputy, Juli Fernàndez Olivares. The Minister detailed that the presence of pests can be determined by environmental factors such as the existence of waste, organic matter, humidity, or the availability of refuge spaces.
Control is primarily based on periodic inspections of buildings to prevent the entry of animals coming from the sewage system or external areas.
All centers belonging to the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) apply the Integrated Pest Control (IPC) strategy, which prioritizes preventive measures and physical or mechanical methods, reserving biocides for exceptional cases. The Department acknowledges that some treatments may take hours or days to be effective and often require complementary structural actions.
In the specific case of CAP La Selva, the Primary Care Team reported the presence of rats in the kitchen on September 16, 2025. After locating new droppings ten days later, the application of biocides was scheduled and hygiene was reinforced, maintaining periodic monitoring by the pest control company ever since.
