More than 5,700 doctors around Malaga province called to take part in four-day strike

Patients could face disruptions this coming week as doctors around Spain are called to go on strike. The dispute is over the so-called 'statute framework', which has already led to more than 50 meetings between the Spanish Ministry of Health, trade unions representing doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers and the larger population. This framework is the law that regulates the working conditions of all healthcare workers in the country. As the central government says, however, it is an "obsolete regulation that has not been amended in depth for 22 years".

A new law had to be drawn up and the Ministry of Health got down to work at the beginning of 2023, but the task is still proving challenging, even three years later, and negotiations have failed on numerous occasions. Doctors, for example, want a document that only reflects their unique conditions and that the other groups have their own statutes.

They have already gone on strike twice this year: once in June and once in October. Now they are back on the attack: in Malaga province, more than 5,700 doctors are called to go on a general strike, this time supported by medical students.

The strike has the explicit support of the official school of physicians of Malaga, whose president, Dr Pedro Navarro, has participated in previous rallies and demonstrations.

The protest is scheduled to start on Tuesday, 9 December, and end on Friday, 12 December. At 11.30am on Tuesday, there will be a rally next to the Patio Azul at the Hospital Clínico. It will move past the Jiménez Fraud roundabout and Bulevar Luis Pasteur and conclude at the Faculty of Medicine. Also at 11.30am, but on 10 December, there will be a rally at the gates of the government offices of Malaga. The rally on 11 December will take place at the door of Pavilion A of Hospital Regional, and will cross Avenida Carlos Haya, Calle del Ciprés and Avenida Santa Rosa de Lima. Finally, on 12 December, there will be a second rally outside the government office.

Doctors are putting forward three main demands: professional reclassification, fair pay for on-call hours, as well as retirement and compatibility. One of the points that has caused the most friction is the ban on mid-level medical staff and managers from working in private healthcare, as is already the case for resident doctors for a five-year period, which the Malaga medical union (SMM) firmly rejects. The proposal also sets a standard working day from 7am to 10pm, which should never exceed 12 hours, although it could be extended to 24 hours under special conditions. In addition, on-call shifts may not exceed 17 hours on working days, except in exceptional situations where they could be extended to 24 hours.

Doctors, for example, point out that on-call hours are not paid as overtime, oppose the current rules on compatibility and demand the right to choose their post freely, as well as the scrapping of the article that allows them to be assigned to centres other than the one to which they were appointed.

The statute framework does not satisfy unions. For this reason, several of them have called an indefinite strike from 27 January, which will result in a day of strikes to be repeated every Tuesday.