More than 100,000 doctors from all over Spain are called from this country and live the last four days of national health to protest against the new Statute Marco del Personal del Sistema Nacional de Salud (SNS) proposed by the Ministry of Health. The demonstration was called by the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), the mayor and the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA), to which were added other union and university forces (not all).
In Madrid, more than a thousand people leave the streets. They criticize their unacceptable workload and feel disappointed by the Minister of Health, Mónica García, who was a doctor before being a politician. “Mónica, listen, this is also your fight,” was the song that, to the rhythm of a batucada, was heard at the head of the march. This went from Congress to the Ministry of Health.
Ana Giménez, president of Amyts, submitted one of the corners of the cartel that leads the demonstration in which we read “for a specific status for the medical and optional profession”. According to her, there is no point in negotiating a historic agreement with other health professionals, such as nurses or cell workers, because there is no “responsibility” or obligation to exceed their working schedule of 37.5 hours per week for guards. “I worked alone for five years in shifts that don’t count for my joy,” criticizes Giménez who, today, at 60, is a family doctor, but spent a large part of his career in emergency services.
The majority of those present attended the demonstration, seeing on their white coats and heads the following inscriptions: “Guardians, hard work, tax but no contribution”, “Doctor or slave? I do not want to continue to be mistreated” and “Dignity and respect for our profession”.
Metges de Catalunya, with around 13,000 affiliates, supported the huelga and led the demonstration in Barcelona. The volunteer staff of the public and concerted system warned the Health Councilor, Olga Pané, that this time the protests will continue until the administration does not fulfill its main demand: the regulation of a clean negotiation space for voluntary workers, where the aspects of assistance, organization and work that specifically affect the medical profession will be addressed.
“The union considers that the time has come to establish the foundations of Catalonia’s public health system for 10 million people, as it maintains a support service sustained by the long-term overwork and exploitation of professionals,” it wrote in an earlier statement around the same time. The first monitoring data in Catalonia goes up to 6.5% according to the Generalitat and up to 45% according to the union.
Disconcerted. Thus, in Seville, families went early in the morning to a health center in the historic center of the city to take their children to the pediatrician. “We are told that there is a lot of pain and we do not know how to take him to the hospital in an emergency because there will also be doctors who will be arrested,” commented an anguished María Ángeles, who over the past seven years has been diagnosed with diarrhea and a severe sore throat. Orlando García was also resigned to his daughter’s daughter. “We decided to say the last week for today, a week of waiting, but other times it has been bad, now another time of waiting,” he explained.
More annoying were the four people who were waiting this morning to undergo cataract surgery at the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Bormujos (Seville). “We are told that our estimate is suspended, but we are not granted a new closure,” says one of these patients, who prefers not to speak her name. In this case, energy cannot increase the burden that accumulates due to the delays weighing on Andalusian public health. “In my case, a year of waiting for the specialist to come and see me and another four months until the operation, now suspended,” he summarizes.
That the Andalusians identify the tint with the Andalusian health problems, malherida behind the cribados crisis, is one of the main concerns of the Andalusian Government, recognize sources close to the Health Council. “I don’t understand what flagship status is and it depends on the central government, and it has an impact on us,” said the people consulted. However, stopping these four days will be one of the reasons given to justify the data on the community waiting list, which only manages to contain despite the shock plans applied.
Among the health professionals of the Puerta del Mar, in Cádiz, education is carried out among users on the consequences of this historic status. “It is a very delicate subject. Open the door to create in the future a health profession that allows those who are not doctors to diagnose and treat. There will be neither doctors nor nurses. We will be at the same level. And a nurse can reach our same level”, if it is a professional from this Gáditano hospital center who requests anonymity. “We are warning you. When the problem arises, others will be blamed,” he warns.
The continuation of the shutdown should be uncertain after the irregular movement recorded during previous ones, such as in June. The autonomous communities impose minimum services guaranteeing at least similar coverage for festivals, which guarantees that emergency care can be provided in the most serious cases.
In addition to the historic status itself, the doctors ask to reduce the maximum weekly working hours, volunteering and better conditions in the guards, to improve the professional category of the optional to differentiate them from other health professionals ―who consider that they have less responsibility and training― and to maintain the possibility that the heads of service can make their work compatible between the public and private sectors, contrary to what the Ministry of Health proposes.
The department headed by Mónica García rejects the project to create a historic status for doctors. “The possibility of a real status is not there yet,” he said in an interview with EL PAÍS. “The historical status of the entire National Health System cannot be fragmented. We need cohesion, teamwork, common rights and duties,” he added.
Health ensures that the planned framework modernizes the 2003 standard, unifying the professional classification according to the Spanish Qualifications Framework (MECU) and guaranteeing periodic recruitment calls to cover the period. It also limits the working day to 45 hours per week and regulates rest and on-call duty, incorporating rights such as digital disconnection and protection against attacks.
The health committee denounces, however, that this “homogenization” is equivalent to a lower level of medical specialization and that the small letter makes it possible to prolong the real dedication even more than that established, without remuneration in fair compensation for guardians or excesses.
The protests have not escaped the divisions between medical and trade union organizations. The Agrupación por un Estatuto Médico y Facultativo (APEMYF), a platform that brings together autonomous unions and some professional associations, has announced energy movements with goals similar to those of today’s huelga.
On the other hand, the rest of the upper classes and the health unions which influence the sector (SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT, CSIF, etc.) have launched an unlimited stop all over the world from January 27. In this case, the main reason is the rejection of the historical status as it was currently planned, since it is considered not to benefit the group of public health professionals. They also oppose an exclusive status for doctors.
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