The Minister of Health, Marciano Gómez, has announced that he will lower the score given to knowledge of the Valencian in the scale starting from the next competitions that are called: “The important thing is to have the best healthcare workers.”
Gómez, in an interview with Europa Press, explained in this regard that “it cannot be, as until now, that the Valencian scores the same as a doctorate.” In the latest ranking approved by the Botànic Government, being a Valencian is a merit that is equal to having a doctorate. “We want the best. I say it loud and clear. We want the best healthcare professional for the best Valencian healthcare and when someone has to undergo surgery, no one asks,” he said.
For this reason, he has argued that they are aware that in the Valencian Community there are two co-official languages, so Valencian will be incorporated as a merit, “but placing us in its proper measure.” In this way, “what will score the most will be the knowledge and experience to have the best doctor.” “It is very difficult for us to have doctors come and what we have to do is provide facilities without any type of hindrance,” she stressed.
Precisely, he pointed out that the lack of doctors is one of the three major problems of Valencian healthcare, along with Primary Care and Mental Health, and that is why he stressed: “I am going to raise the voice of the Valencian Community in Madrid, I want carry Valencian power, because it is a clear responsibility of the Ministry and it cannot be in profile.”
Thus, he pointed out that the Ministry is “co-responsible for what happens in Spanish healthcare and must have a coordinating role” and, among other issues, must increase the number of training places for all professionals.
In this regard, he pointed out that until the Ministry updates the MIR positions to the needs – given that it takes about ten years for a doctor to be trained – it will adopt “innovative” measures because the mechanisms put in place by his predecessor, Miguel Mínguez, such as The decree of places that are difficult to fill or the strategic alliances between hospitals have proven insufficient. For example, he has pointed out that at the Vinaròs Hospital there are 44 unfilled places.
For this reason, they will implement a specific regulatory framework for Health Departments with problems that are difficult to cover that includes remuneration and curricular improvements for professionals, but also organizational ones that can lead to the reorganization of the health map. In addition, it is being proposed to “seek multidisciplinary measures from other areas.” “We already have this plan in motion and we will implement it as soon as possible, but without rushing,” he stressed.
Gómez also does not rule out additional measures, including the hiring, if necessary, of foreign doctors with comparable qualifications, as the Andalusian Government has done. “Obviously, I will try to comply with the regulations and ensure that all hiring is for specialists with MIR, but if I cannot do so, we will have to hire non-EU doctors to be able to provide care to the five million Valencians,” he justified.
Likewise, they have announced that they are going to review the “badly called” agreement on a 35-hour work day reached during the last legislature. In this sense, he has indicated that “what was agreed was the reduction of 11 working days gradually until 2025” and “not a reduction of the working day to 35 hours per week from Monday to Friday with the objectives of family conciliation and rest.” 48 hours a week.”
In that sense, he has warned that this reduction in working hours “generates a very clear deficit in personnel when there are currently 750 budgeted places that we cannot cover and a deficit in healthcare these days.” For this reason, they are going to reevaluate this agreement with the objective that “in this legislature, we really reach an agreement on 35 hours a week, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Monday to Friday.”
