Catalan is no longer a requirement to access healthcare in the Balearic Islands. The new Government of Marga Prohens changes the law so that what used to be a requirement now becomes a merit. It does so through an urgent decree law that enters into force this Monday, although it must be validated by Parliament. It is one of the measures announced by Marga Prohens during the electoral campaign, which was also included in the pact that Vox signed to be president of the Balearic Islands without Vox ministers in her team.
The Minister of Health, Manuela García Romero, explained the agreement adopted this Monday by the Governing Council, which involves a modification of the law approved in 2016 by the previous Government chaired by Francina Armengol. In fact, the Armengol law is, in turn, a modification of a previous law by José Ramón Bauzá that, along the same lines as the one put forward by Prohens, which also exempted toilets from knowledge of Catalan.
The councilor explained that it is a measure to attract health professionals, despite the fact that the shortage of some specialties on the islands is more linked to the high cost of living in the Balearic Islands and the lack of affordable housing than to the requirement of Catalan . The regulations that have been in force up to now oblige health professionals to prove knowledge of Catalan, although they have two years from obtaining the position to prove the certificate.
The Government of Prohens points out that the new selection processes and the provision of personnel with health functions will allow access to those “best qualified” professionals, without the lack of official accreditation of a certain level of Catalan “becoming a deterrent ” at the time of access. In parallel, it announces that the Department of Health will ensure that these toilets, once within the Administration, can train or improve their knowledge of the Catalan language, with the collaboration of the Administration.
The new Government of Marga Prohens considers that it is a priority that public health “adjusts to the real needs of citizens, with qualified professionals and quality health care”. The minister explained that increasing the number of health personnel “is an urgent task to guarantee care and reduce waiting lists.” For this reason, it is considered “essential” to maintain the number of doctors and other health personnel, and to facilitate the arrival of new health workers.
The elimination of the requirement of Catalan in healthcare is the first measure of a series of actions agreed between the PP and Vox so that Catalan gives way to Castilian. The most significant is the possibility for parents to choose the language of instruction for their children at all educational stages, but the most controversial is the creation of an office, which will be in the hands of Vox, to monitor that Prohens fulfills its commitments in linguistic subject.
The Obra Cultural Balear has already sent a statement in which it regrets Prohens’ decision and ensures that it constitutes a “violation” of the Catalan-speaking citizens of the islands to use Catalan in the health field. Remember that every time the PP has acted against the Catalan, it has found a mobilized society.
The OCB refers to the largest citizen mobilization in the Balearic Islands, when 100,000 people took to the streets against the language policy of the then president of the Government, José Ramón Bauzá, now in the ranks of Cs. He tried to implement a trilingual model, with more presence of English to the detriment of Spanish.
