The doctors' strike faces its third week of stoppage amid tensions over the negotiation of the new Framework Statute of the National Health System between the Ministry of Health and healthcare unions. According to the State Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), the conflict remains open because they consider that the current draft does not include their main demands.
The mobilizations are part of a protest calendar initiated in 2026, with several strike days already held in previous months. In those calls, CESM has reported high follow-throughs in hospitals, which have reached around 80% in some cases.
Claims: workday, on-call duties, and a specific statute
The medical unions demand the creation of a specific statute for the medical collective, separate from the general regime of other health professionals. Among their main demands are the regulation of working hours, the conditions of on-call duties, and improvements in retirement.
They also denounce that the current regulatory framework does not adequately recognize the specificity of their work. CESM insists that, without a structural change in these working conditions, the conflict will remain.
Resignation of Minister Mónica García
Last April 23, the Strike Committee stated that the Ministry of Health had issued "inaccuracies" by holding them responsible for the suspension of a meeting with autonomous communities. According to the CESM statement, this version "does not correspond to reality".
The Ministry communicated the suspension of a scheduled meeting and maintained that it had been requested by the Committee itself, in addition to reproaching them for having rejected a proposal and maintaining the call for a strike. The Committee's organizations reject this interpretation and assure that key elements of the negotiation process are omitted.
According to their explanation, in a previous meeting the Ministry proposed the creation of specific negotiation tables for doctors at the regional level, but the Committee conditioned its acceptance on the proposal being legally viable. After their analysis, they conclude that it is not possible without modifying basic state legislation.
The Committee maintains that the solution to the conflict requires a legal reform that allows for the creation of its own negotiation table and a specific statute for doctors and practitioners. It accuses the Ministry of maintaining a "deceptive" narrative and even calls for the resignation of the Minister of Health, Mónica García, for her management of the conflict.