Massive follow-up to the second doctors' strike against the Ministry's Framework Statute

PalmThe doctors' strike called this Friday in the Balearic Islands has had a very high turnout, according to data from the Simebal union: 95 percent among resident physicians, between 80 and 90 percent among attending physicians, and more than 70 percent in Primary Care. Another day of strikes was held in June. The protest is part of the day of mobilization called across Spain to demonstrate rejection of the new draft of the Statute of the Mediterranean proposed by the Ministry of Health. Nearly 200 strikers demonstrated outside the Spanish government delegation. Medical professionals believe the new text fails to recognize the uniqueness of their profession and represents a setback in terms of labor rights. They demand that on-call work be voluntary, fairly paid, and count toward retirement, in addition to guaranteeing rest periods, limiting care overload, and establishing a professional career model aligned with medical training and responsibility.

They also call for effective measures to retain and recruit doctors in places with limited coverage, and the possibility of early retirement without penalty, taking into account the physical and emotional strain involved in practicing medicine. The medical union Simebal described the strike as massive and warned that the protests will continue if substantial changes are not made to the legislative text.

The minimum services established for this Friday's strike were 100% in hospital care and urgent and emergency services, according to IB-Salut. These services have been agreed upon between the strike committee and the Administration to guarantee vital care and continuity of treatment. This includes units such as the emergency department, ICU, oncology, dialysis, oncological surgery, day hospital, and hospital pharmacy, in addition to emergency services such as SUPA and SAMU 061. Regarding Primary Care, the presence of at least one doctor and one pediatrician per health center has been guaranteed. During the afternoon period (3:00 p.m.–12:00 a.m.), the minimum services cover all on-call doctors at the PACs. No minimum services have been established for resident medical interns due to the specific nature of their employment relationship.

Position of the Ministry of Health

The Ministry of Health, on the other hand, maintains that the new Statute of the Month is the result of three years of negotiations with various social stakeholders and responds to the need to modernize and standardize the working conditions of statutory health system personnel.

According to the Ministry, the text does not entail any reduction in rights, but rather updates an outdated regulatory framework (dating back to 2003) and expands guarantees in areas such as work-life balance, job stability, and transparency in professional careers. They also assert that the Ministry's intention is to "continue dialogue," but they reject drafting a statute exclusively for doctors, as demanded by the unions, because healthcare personnel are part of a common system with multiple professional profiles.