Collecting a cooler full of blood samples from one hospital with a drone and transporting it to another saves time and improves connectivity. This was demonstrated on Tuesday at the Pallars Regional Hospital, testing what will be the first drone-based healthcare transport corridor in Spain. The project, led by the Departments of the Presidency and Health, will be launched this summer between this hospital in Tremp and the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital in Lleida, where the samples were sent. The aim is to improve response times and territorial equity when sending blood bags, medications, and medical supplies. The use of drones on this first corridor between Tremp and Lleida will reduce the conventional road route from approximately 75 minutes to between 45 and 50 minutes. The choice of these two locations stems from the report Integration of drones into the health system: key areas for territorial deploymentA study prepared by the ICT Health and Social Foundation analyzes the feasibility of integrating this technology into the logistics operations of public hospitals. The report identifies ten strategic areas with 15 hospitals where routes could be deployed in the short and medium term, including the Lleida and Alt Pirineu i Aran health regions.

The Government is getting down to work on implementing the Statute of Rural Municipalities, a legal framework promoted during the last legislature and approved this summer, which aims to curb depopulation in a large part of the country. This Saturday, President Salvador Illa and four ministers traveled to Món Sant Benet, in Sant Fruitós de Bages, to meet with more than 300 mayors and representatives of county councils and municipal organizations. During this meeting, the Executive announced several measures, most notably a grant program to rehabilitate disused buildings in the country's least populated municipalities. With this measure, the Government plans to rehabilitate 400 homes between now and 2029. The grants, totaling 20 million euros, will be directed towards the rehabilitation of both vacant private homes and abandoned public buildings in the 608 towns included in the Statute. The Catalan government will pay for part of the rehabilitation, and the owners will have to commit to renting the property as affordable housing for 10 years. This measure aims to fulfill the regional housing plan, which stipulates that within 20 years, 1.3% of primary residences must be affordable rentals. The viability of measures like this, however, largely depends on the approval of the budget, and so far, the government has not begun budget negotiations. The ERC and Comuns parties, the governing coalition partners, are pressuring Isla to ensure that, before sitting down to negotiate, he fulfills the agreements on financing and housing. Among the announcements, the creation of a rural housing pool and a new service within the Catalan Land Institute (Incasòl) stands out. This new service will assist municipalities in processing and managing urban planning and collaborate on the rehabilitation of disused buildings.

The winter and spring rains have been a double-edged sword. Although they favored the growth of crops such as cereals, the high temperatures in June have turned these fields into flammable areas. This is how David Borrell, head of the Generalitat's Fire Department, explained to ARA, stating that Catalonia is under threat of "very violent" agricultural fires. The most recent cases are those on Tuesday in Sanaüja and Torrefeta and Florejacs (La Segarra), which were declared under control on Wednesday night, but ended with two fatalities and more than 5,500 hectares burned.