Indignation and anger is what Mónica García’s proposal has caused in the internal resident doctors (MIR) who are currently training in a specialty in Spain. As ABC has advanced, the Ministry of Health introduces in the draft of the Framework Statute that it has sent to the unions that, after completing their training, specialist doctors cannot practice at the same time in public and private health during their first five years. years of practice in public centers. “It restricts our work freedom and ignores the needs of young doctors in the National Health System, because instead of making it more attractive it will achieve the opposite,” says Jesús Arzúa, president of the MIR Spain association.
Among the consequences that residents believe the new regulations will cause, if it goes ahead as the ministry proposes, they highlight the flight of professionals to other countries where they are allowed to combine this work or where the working conditions are sufficiently good enough to not have to do it. Spain, Arzúa points out, “can hardly compete” with some of its surrounding countries in terms of working conditions offered to doctors, both in terms of salary and hours. “It will increase the flight of talent to other countries with more attractive conditions,” says Arzúa, who calls on leaders to reflect on why there are a large number of Spanish doctors who go abroad when they finish their residency. According to data from the Collegiate Medical Organization, in 2023 – the last year for which there are figures – 44 percent of the doctors who requested certificates of suitability, necessary to work abroad, were under 36 years old.
«Coercive measures»
The MIR Spain association, its president points out, understands Health’s “concern” about filling the necessary positions, but believes that “with coercive measures” is not the appropriate way. Furthermore, they regret having learned through this means of a proposal that directly affects them, without anyone having officially informed them. Instead of going this route, says Arzúa, the administration should opt for “real solutions” such as increasing the number of competitive exams, improving conditions or planning that encourages permanence.
The MIR also regret that the image projected of doctors with this type of measures is not positive. “A perception is created that doctors owe something to the system and the personal and professional sacrifice that training entails is ignored,” says the president of the residents, who emphasizes that many times the jobs are given in precarious conditions. He also criticizes the distinction with respect to other professions that also involve training in the public system and for which these conditions are not required. “The young doctor has enough capacity to decide what he wants and if the national health system does not offer him the appropriate conditions, he is free to choose the private sector or go to another country,” he says.
Tomás Cobo, president of the Collegiate Medical Organization (OMC), focuses precisely on working conditions. «Exclusivity is very good but to achieve it in a natural and logical way you need to attract talent. And for that it is necessary to generate conditions that are as attractive as possible,” he says. With stable positions in which research and training are continually present, it would not be necessary to “prohibit anything,” he says.
Eraser improvement
The president of the WTO emphasizes that the Health proposal is currently a draft, and as such it may entail changes. “It is about all of us collaborating to improve it and generate attractive positions so that professionals stay in this model, which is the pillar of social well-being,” he concludes.
The Health proposal to reform the framework statute also contemplates this exclusivity for managers and directors of public health centers, as well as for heads of service. In addition, Minister Mónica García also wants to focus on reductions in working hours. “You can’t take a reduction in hours to go to the private sector,” he said.
The private sector, for its part, has also expressed its reluctance. Sources from the Spanish Private Health Alliance (Aspe) point out that a measure of this magnitude “can have important implications for the planning of human resources in an already complex context, marked by scarcity”, since it cannot be taken for granted. They believe that professionals will choose to work exclusively in public health if they have to choose. Compatibility, they believe, contributes to sustaining the health system. «Any limitation on compatibility must be aimed at avoiding, very precisely, conflicts of interest. Prohibiting compatibility for service chiefs in general is just the opposite,” they say.
#MIR #explode #Health #proposal #demand #exclusivity #training #work #countries
