CESM and Xunta: the best conditions for doctors and high pay in Spain

VIGO, Nov 6 (EUROPA PRESS) - The Confederation of Galician State Medical Unions (CESM) has demanded that Serviso Gallego de Saúde (Galician Health Service) improve doctors' working conditions, while the Galician government has stated that Galician doctors' salaries are among the highest in Spain at 65,000 euros a year for those who complete their specialization and obtain a position in primary health care.

In its statement, CESM highlighted the creation of 220 doctor's places in Galicia, which are foreseen in the draft regional budget for 2024, pointing out that unless doctors' working conditions are improved, "the problem of Galician public medicine will not be solved." The union stated that despite the''support for increasing the number of medical staff, Galician doctors "need much more". "They need to really improve their working conditions, to have more time for their patients and not to have crippling schedules that frustrate professionals," CESM emphasized.

CESM rebuked Sergas for not creating a single seat in the primary health care "when it is already oversaturated and doctors can barely spare seven minutes per patient." "However, technical materials such as ultrasound scanners or electric scalpels are being purchased to further overburden workers," the CESM noted.

The organization also said that staff at Continuous Care (PAC) locations are "overstretched," and 16 new slots for''adjustments to working hours will not solve the problem. The 74 ER slots are also not sufficiently considered. In the same vein, the Galega Association for the Defense of Public Health has spoken out, saying that more than 430 primary care doctors will reach retirement age this year, 'more than double the number of new places'.

In response to these critics, Health Minister Julio García Comesana emphasized the Galician government's "budgetary efforts" in the health sector, which will create 220 places in 2024. According to him, these are new places that are being created in the system, and many of them correspond to the stabilization of personnel adopted during the pandemic.

The head of the Ministry of Health, however, said that the problem in primary care is not the lack of places that have already been created, but the lack of specialists to fill them. "The problem we face in primary care is that we have places that we cannot fill because there are no doctors," he complained, pointing to the fact that Galicia trains 100% of the doctors allowed by existing legislation, insisting''s request for the government to allow more doctors to be trained and asks unions to support this request.

With regard to doctors' working conditions, Komesana cited the example of the proposed contracts for doctors who have completed their training this year, who are offered a place in primary care "for life". "If anyone thinks there are better conditions than these, let them say so," he emphasized. As well as various incentives for existing doctors to avoid them taking a well-deserved retirement, he said that these new doctors receive remuneration of €65,000 a year, 'which can be improved, but you can't say that these are bad conditions', since, according to his figures, Galicia ranks sixth or seventh among Spanish regions paying doctors the most.'''The problem is not economic conditions, but the lack of doctors,'' he concluded.

In addition, Comesana again defended the 'transparency' of the renewal of the agreement with the Ribera Povisa hospital in Vigo, pointing out that the increase in funding corresponds to the increase in the cost of medical services, just as the cost of living has increased in recent months.