The Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) has expressed its support for the CEMSATSE coalition, and specifically for the Medical Union of Ceuta, in light of the call for a strike day for doctors and nurses in the autonomous city on September 24.
According to the organization, this announcement of strikes comes "after weeks of demanding efforts, breaks, organizational measures, and structural solutions in the face of the serious healthcare pressure they have been under since last July," also emphasizing that "it is not advisable to confuse causes with consequences," since "the strike cannot be blamed for the responsibility of the healthcare crisis that Ceuta is experiencing."
For CESM, the strikes represent "the extreme response of professionals who have been avoiding, with their personal effort, that their consequences are even greater." In this regard, it has highlighted that "the seriousness of the situation transcends the union complaint, as even the Medical College Organization (OMC), after its visit to Ceuta to listen to the doctors on the ground, has denounced the exhaustion, the work absences, and the healthcare burdens that double or are more than double the usual in the Emergency Services."
Urgent appeal to the Ministry of Health and INGESA
CESM has warned that "the sacrifice of professionals cannot become the permanent contingency plan of the Administration, as safe healthcare cannot indefinitely depend on extended working hours, overload, and renunciation of rest by those who sustain it," insisting on the need for the Ministry of Health and the National Institute of Health Management (INGESA) to provide "an immediate and proportionate response to the seriousness of the situation, with the necessary human resources and stable measures for the recruitment and retention of professionals."
The confederation has also recalled that healthcare workers "do not call a strike because they want to stop attending, but because they want to be able to continue providing quality healthcare" and that "an extraordinary situation like the current one must also have an extraordinary response in resources."
Consequently, CESM reiterates its demand that the Administration assume its responsibility "and provide solutions before the exhaustion of the collective further deteriorates healthcare" in the autonomous city.