The Ministry of Health has ruled out this Monday the creation of a specific Framework Statute for doctors, one of the main demands of the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) and the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA), considering that this “would fragment the system and segregate the rest of the health personnel”.
During a meeting held in Madrid with the Strike Committee, the Health Department argued that it cannot negotiate matters of regional competence, such as salaries, organization of the working day or the sizing of staff, as these aspects could be unconstitutional.
In parallel, Healthcare has called two new meetings to continue negotiations: one on December 15 with the unions of the Negotiation Area and another on December 17 with the Strike Committee, in which six key points will be discussed, among them the declaration of Medicine as a high-risk profession and the exclusivity regime.
Partial progress on retirement and on-call pay
Despite the disagreement on structural issues, the Ministry has proposed progress on other aspects, such as early retirement based on the difficulty or unhealthiness of the position, as well as a better adjustment of the allowances linked to on-call time.
It also contemplates allowing staff mobility only with the consent of the professional, except in exceptional cases of emergency care and for a maximum of seven days a year.
As for the future framework for dialogue, it is proposed to create specific technical tables by category, something that CESM and SMA have accepted provisionally, although they maintain the pulse with a national strike that this Friday celebrates its fourth consecutive day.
The conflict is still open after the “high level of follow through” of the strike
The Strike Committee has positively valued the partial unblocking of the negotiation, but stresses that “the conflict is still open”. The unions criticize the fact that the Ministry maintains its current draft without substantial changes and warn that the mobilizations will continue as long as their fundamental demands are not met.
Since the beginning of the strike, called by CESM, more than 177,000 public health physicians and 33,000 MIRs have joined the conflict, which has also been joined by 45,000 medical students with school strikes.
Impact on the Balearic Islands: thousands of consultations cancelled
In the first three days of the strike, 8,283 consultations and 246 operations have been cancelled in the Balearic Islands alone, according to IbSalut data. Ibiza and Formentera have also suffered the consequences of the strike, with 46 operations suspended and 994 primary care consultations cancelled.
