Health regrets “the lack of solutions” of the Ministry to alleviate a common deficit

The Minister of Health and Social Policies, María Martín, regretted this Wednesday “the absence of solutions by the Ministry of Health headed by Mónica García to, within the scope of its powers, alleviate the deficit of doctors in Spain.” This is how she expressed it through a note after the extraordinary meeting of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System held at the request of the majority of autonomous communities. “La Rioja, like a large majority of communities, have put numerous proposals on the Ministry’s table so that it, within the scope of its powers, can provide extraordinary solutions to the worrying lack of physicians in Primary Care,” he points out, adding that This is “an endemic problem that is traditionally aggravated during the summer period, especially during 2024, the year in which the R4, the final year MIR, who finish their residency in September and not in May as usual, as as the advisors in the sector have been warning for months.

Alternatives

As detailed by the Ministry, to compensate for this situation, La Rioja and the rest of the communities have offered the Ministry different alternatives to have professionals with whom to face the summer health plan. «First of all, to face the problem it is necessary to make a clear diagnosis of the situation, which involves, for example, knowing the real numbers of non-EU doctors in our country and their situation, as well as the centralized approval of professionals, to “do not establish differences between communities,” he maintains. «In addition to these measures, the Health Ministers have proposed making the cut-off mark more flexible for access to university studies in Medicine, as well as more MIR places and adequate financing from the General State Budgets.

The Minister of Health urged Mónica García “to assume and exercise her powers, in the same way that the communities have exercised theirs by designing their summer contingency plans even with the difficulties posed by the lack of health professionals at the national level and the inaction of the Ministry of Health in this situation, instead of trying to interfere in regional powers. “In this sense, and as it cannot be otherwise, we guarantee the people of La Rioja the best possible health care,” highlights María Martín’s department.