One euro every two months per person to guarantee medical care after hours. It is the voluntary contribution that residents of Juncosa have paid to the doctor for forty years, when it was paid in many towns in rural areas. It was an unwritten agreement whereby the family doctor, in exchange for a fee affordable to everyone, was on call 24 hours a day.
The municipal application eBando sends, the day before, reminders to pay with messages like this: ‘Todos los interesados ??is informed that the same medical fee will be charged tomorrow for the morning’. It is collected by the doctor Juan Ignacio Valgañón, responsible for the consultations in Juncosa and El Soleràs, which belong to the Basic Health Area (ABS) of Granadella.
The youngest, in general, do not pay the equal, while it remains widespread among the elderly and part of the middle-aged people and a neighbor works as a collector at the premises of the Friendship Women’s Association, according to Som Garrigues .
Joan is one of the neighbors who maintains the tradition and makes the voluntary payment. “I pay it at ease, if something happens to someone in the family you can call the doctor at three in the morning and he comes home. This is priceless, we are 40 kilometers from Lleida, there are no doctors nearby, ”he says. And he also says: “Leave the doctor alone, we want to continue having the service.”
Another neighbor, who prefers to remain anonymous, spoke in the same vein. “Iguala was started by a doctor who came from abroad, she is a volunteer and if we need a doctor we call him and she answers us by phone at any time. She visits a lot of older people,” she explains.
Juan Ignacio Valgañón maintains that it is not a bonus. “I have a private practice in Lleida, I am registered as a freelancer and I do not charge the exclusivity of Social Security. I can have a private consultation, I maintain the custom in Juncosa, because it was done many years ago, not in other towns. For one euro a month they can call me at any time on my phone or they can come to my office ”, he affirms.
The doctor specifies that it is a voluntary payment, which is collected from the beneficiaries by a woman from the town, sometimes at their homes if they cannot go to the appointment.
Juncosa is a town of about 300 inhabitants. According to his data, about 100 people pay for it, “older people and young people, some people work in Lleida and it is easier for them to go to my office in the city than in the town.”
The winner of the municipal elections and future Juncosa, Susana Vila maintains that the match is foreign to the City Council and that it advertises on ebando because through it, issues that may interest them, whether municipal or not, are communicated to the residents.
The Col·legi Oficial de Metges de Lleida has avoided ruling on the medical equals. The board declines to make statements arguing that it is a labor issue, which does not fall within the powers of the Col·legi.
For its part, the Ministry of Health, points out that physicians specializing in family medicine of the Comprehensive Health System for Public Use (SISCAT) who do not receive remuneration for exclusive dedication can freely exercise private activity outside their normal hours and outside of the activity characteristic of the public health network, without the public system having to carry it out. monitoring.
The Ministry points out that the public health system does not recognize any type of payment to professionals under the concept of equals.
