Barcelona, Catalonia: Catalonia has started rolling out an electronic medical death certificate system in hospitals, replacing a paper process with a digital one, according to a government statement released on Sunday.
The project is led by the Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Parliament, with support from the Generalitat's Health and Justice and Democratic Quality departments. The government says the change is meant to improve information quality, institutional coordination and legal security.
The system is already active in at least one hospital in each health region and is expected to expand progressively to all other centres throughout 2026. It follows the digital birth registration system already available from hospitals. More Catalonia news
Under the new process, healthcare professionals can generate and digitally sign the death certificate directly from the clinical system, then send it automatically to the relevant authorities. The government says this reduces bureaucracy and means families do not have to handle extra paperwork.
About 69,000 deaths are registered each year in Catalonia. The government says digitalising the process is part of wider efforts to modernise administration and improve healthcare and administrative procedures.
Several hospitals are already using the system, including Hospital Comarcal de Pallars and Fundació Sant Hospital in the Alt Pirineu i Aran Health Region, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron in the Barcelona Health Region, Hospital de Mollet in the Barcelona Metropolitan North region, and Hospital de Viladecans in the Barcelona Metropolitan South region.
Other hospitals using the system include Hospital Joan XXIII in Tarragona, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu de Manresa, Hospital Universitari de Girona Doctor Josep Trueta, the Arnau de Vilanova, Santa Maria and Jaume Nadal Meroles hospitals in Lleida, Hospital Universitari d'Igualada, and Hospital de Tortosa Verge de la Cinta in the Terres de l'Ebre region. The government says the system will later expand to primary care, socio-sanitary services and the Medical Emergency System (SEM).
