The Ministry of Health has begun to negotiate with doctors about their new working conditions on the wrong foot. The first text of the draft law of the Framework Statute that the department led by Mónica García presented to the representatives of the medical unions has triggered a threat of “mobilizations and confrontation measures” by the professionals, who sent a statement this Thursday joint signed by the State Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), which includes organizations from 14 communities and other autonomous unions of Andalusia (SMA), Madrid (Amyts), Catalonia (MC), Euskadi (SME) or Galicia, among others.
The doctors have risen up against a Ministry draft, despite the fact that it is still in initial negotiations, which they consider an “attack on the profession because it leaves the doctor completely unassisted with the proposals that are made regarding working hours, professional reclassification and the regime of incompatibility,” they say.
In the statement they complain that, in the case of the first two issues, their requests in previous work meetings to collect contributions have been left aside and they demand, as the “only solution”, that their conditions be regulated separately in a Statute. of the Medical Profession. The reform of the Framework Statute that is being negotiated encompasses all health professionals and not only physicians. “The National Health System belongs to the patients and they are served by professionals of all categories,” said Minister Mónica García in a press conference after the first meeting to discuss the draft, held this Wednesday.
According to these unions, the text prepared by Mónica García’s team – advanced by Medical Editorial Days before and which has angered the unions even more – “makes the current norm on working time worse” despite the fact that it includes the reduction of 24-hour shifts. at 5 p.m. “It does not eliminate the obligation to do them, they do not count as time worked for retirement or the remuneration is still lower than the ordinary hour,” stated in the statement, which also states that the hours of the post-on-call shift must be recovered, as up to now, despite the fact that the minister has denied this point and announced that this point will be redrafted. They also protest that, in the professional reclassification, physicians (A1) are included with “other categories that require training with fewer credits, without any salary increase.”
Another open front has to do with Health’s intention to include a more “rigid” incompatibility regime than the current one for intermediate and deputy positions in the first five years after the MIR. “Although the unions present in the area indicated that we would not tolerate an increase in situations of incompatibility and asked, in fact, that in those autonomous communities that maintained the specific complement it be eliminated, the draft includes this incompatibility for heads of service and section regarding private healthcare, and also for deputies in the first five years of work in the public system with respect to private activity. Isn’t the inevitable loss of talent and experience that this will mean for the public system not evident?” they point out.
The tone is very different from that used this Wednesday by the Minister of Health, once the first meeting with the unions had concluded. “The only recipe is dialogue and I am very satisfied with the tone in which the conversation has been conducted,” García said in a press conference after the meeting, although she warned that the Ministry “has not come to maintain the status quo.” .
The minister defended that the new text provides “stability in work” and “recognizes for the first time the figure of the researcher.” Regarding the on-calls, there is a point of friction when the draft “if there are care needs” allows the on-calls to be extended for more hours. “It is true that we must give a margin at 5 p.m., but they will work to make it clear that these assistance needs are not an escape route,” García assured.
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