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A survey carried out by SMM (Malaga's medical union) among more than two thousand medical professionals has shown that three out of four doctors are opposed to the restriction on private practice for the first five years after completing their medical training (MIR), as well as to the reductions in working hours and intermediate positions.
These restrictions are part of the draft of the new statute framework proposed by the Ministry of Health. On Monday 10 February, fifty Malaga-based doctors stood in front of the regional government office and protested in response to the draft.
More than 72% of the doctors surveyed do not agree to the modification of the working week to be 48 hours, instead of the 40-hour working week established for others. Furthermore, more than 88% also oppose the requirement to recover and make up ordinary work hours for the system related to morning on-call rest periods, supporting the view that this is a "covert and unpaid" increase in working hours..
Similarly, 99% of the doctors agree that all time spent at work outside the normal working hours should be paid as overtime and count towards retirement. On the other hand, more than 97% do not agree that all university graduates should have the same professional and remuneration level as doctors. Finally, more than 97% of the doctors who responded to this survey said that their own statute should be established and that they would support demonstrations and a strike in view of the scale of the problem.
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Following a call raised by the Andalusian medical union (SMA) and the college of doctors of Malaga (Commálaga), fifty doctors from the province of Malaga gathered in front of the gates of the regional government office on Monday 10 February to demand the withdrawal of the draft.
In a statement to the media, the president of the SMM, Antonio Martín, said: "The new statute is retrograde and exploitative." Pedro J. Navarro from Commálaga added: "We are totally opposed to it. You cannot legislate behind the backs of doctors."
One of their complaints is the ministry's proposal to include all health graduates to group A1. "Our specific training, skills, competences and our special responsibility are ignored," said Antonio Martín. Another major concern that both Martín and Navarro shared was the fact that the 17-hour-long on-call duty is still compulsory and it does not count toward retirement. "On-call duty is not regulated. We are still obliged to do a paid on-call duty at a bargain price, while other professional categories will be able to do overtime," they said.
On the other hand, they pointed out that doctors "only have the right to a weekly rest period of 36 hours", which can be accumulated in 14-day periods. "We can be forced to work up to 48 hours a week or more. The annual working day can even be increased by 150 hours a year over this figure," they stated.
Other demands that have been raised from the outset are the incompatibilities, especially in regard to the proposal that the first five years of specialist doctors' employment with the national health system (SNS) will be exclusive. The same measure would apply to heads of service, while, according to complaints, the Ministry's intention is to extend this restriction to reductions in working hours for childcare. "We could find ourselves with more doctors leaving," he warned.
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