The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has reiterated that the Draft Law on the Framework Statute constitutes "the first stone to start improving something that no one has dared to improve in 23 years," referring to the labor situation of healthcare professionals.
In her speech in the Upper House, and responding to an interpellation from the deputy of the Popular Party (PP), Rosa María Romero, about the health situation in Spain, García defended that "The Framework Statute is not decided, not amended, not approved or rejected in an office; it is approved and amended in the Congress of Deputies and here too, in the Senate, when that text comes," also emphasizing that the regulation ends "with the exhausting 24-hour shifts."
The head of Health recalled that, during her 22 years of professional career, she did not hear "any authority -neither institutional, nor political, nor union- talk about the toxicity of the 24-hour shifts," and emphasized that eliminating them was her priority upon arriving at the Ministry. "I have suffered them in my own flesh," she stated, while denouncing "exams every 10, every 15 years, as they were called in the communities governed by the PP."
In the face of this "precariousness," she reaffirmed her commitment to bring the text to the Congress of Deputies so that the groups can position themselves and "be able to say what they are against." In this sense, she questioned whether the PP's rejection is due to "reducing the shift hours of professionals by 30 percent" or to forcing the autonomous communities "to guarantee sufficient staffing."
Autonomous competencies and responsibility for human resources
In her speech, García pointed out that the current situation of healthcare professionals "is due to the Framework Statute of 2003" and accused the autonomous communities governed by the PP of a "dereliction of responsibility" and a "dereliction of duties when it comes to caring for their professionals." She recalled that "Planning, organization, payment, and everything related to human resources is the responsibility of the autonomous communities" and demanded that they return it "if they do not know how to exercise it."
Likewise, it has been pointed out that the Royal Decree that modifies the special employment relationship of resident staff will be regulated, which will generate the paradox that "they will have their rights and improvements in working conditions approved," while the PP could vote "against the improvement of working conditions for the attached professionals."
For her part, Rosa María Romero has rejected the minister's proposals and has assured that "she should not remain even one more minute" at the head of Health. She has denounced that "We have a deficit of healthcare professionals that has been unable to resolve" and "waiting lists at extraordinarily worrying levels due to her direct responsibility," adding that healthcare workers and unions are "mobilized in a state of war" and maintain a strike that has lasted for more than a year.
The PP deputy has admitted that it is necessary to update the Framework Statute, but has emphasized that the "problem" is that it has been processed "with its back to the professionals, to the union representatives, to the autonomous communities" and has stressed that the regulation "also lacks the support of the parliamentary majority."
Debate on the health and migration crisis in Ceuta
In the final part of the debate, Romero focused her criticisms on the management of the migration crisis in Ceuta and demanded explanations about the reinforcements of healthcare personnel announced to address it. "With this crisis in Ceuta and with your terrible management in Health, you have demonstrated your incapacity, your negligent management at the head of the Ministry of Health," she reproached García.
The minister responded that the available data "do not reflect collapse," despite the "dehumanizing and racist language" that, in her opinion, the PP employs. She recounted that "We have seen the emergency reports in which young people came in flip-flops, women with their children, boys and girls, people with hypothermia, dehydration, and cardiac arrest," thus rejecting the "invasion" that the 'popular' denounce and defending the actions of the health services in response to the arrival of migrant people.