Almost 800 doctors of Catalonia, according to the Urban Guard, joined this Wednesday the second day of doctors’ strike, called at the state level by the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) and at the regional level by Metges de Catalunya (MC). The Department of Health of the Generalitat estimated in a 7.2% following the strikewhile the organizing union at the regional level, Metges de Catalunya (MC), did so in a manner 55%. Doctors demand “public and quality” health care and their own medical consent.
The union assures that, by province, monitoring is 58% in Barcelona; 40% in Girona; 42% in Tarragona and 20% in Lleida. By health sector, still according to MC, 57% of primary care doctors and 29% of hospital doctors went on strike.
Protesters gathered at 10:30 a.m. in front of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Barcelona (UB) and began a march towards the Health Department. Throughout the tour, proclamations were heard such as “It’s not a vocation, it’s exploitation” and “Pané, for nothing”. They also held banners with messages such as “Tired doctor, mistreated patient” and “I haven’t slept in 24 hours, should I operate on you?” “.
They denounce the “overload of care”
The group of doctors demands that the Department led by Pané establish its own negotiation space for medical personnel in which their working conditions are agreed, but also the aspects of care and organization of medical care provided to the population.
The doctors’ demand goes beyond a working agreement for the group. They are looking for Icreate a “strategic instrument to retain medical talent in the public system” of health, the key to improving quality”.
In addition, they demand an end to the “care overload” of doctors, salary improvements, which the obligation to work 24 hours a day disappears and work a minimum of 48 hours per week.
“We are in a precarious situation”
The family doctor from Blanes, Javier O’Farrill González, denounced to the ACN the “lack of hands”. “We are in a precarious situationwe denounced the lack of professionals due to the mismanagement of the administration”, underlined O’Farrill, who stressed that doctors must assume two to three times more activity than their predecessors.
The pediatrician Rosa Rovirawho works at the Pius de Valls Hospital, stressed that one of the main demands of doctors is to have a own framework statute, because the characteristics of the medical group are very particular, “without denigrating the rest of the groups”. Rovira complains about 24-hour on-call duty, no contributions for many years, and long working hours in general.
These health demonstrations occur in the midst of a flu wave in Catalonia, a situation which, according to the union, ““If this is not accompanied by increased staffing, primary care centers will collapse.”
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