The president of the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA), Rafael Ojeda, reiterated this Wednesday that the union maintains the "open conflict" with the Ministry of Health over the Framework Statute it has proposed, although he emphasized that it is "hardly compatible" to propose an indefinite strike in Andalusia after the summer in the current context of "dialogue space" with the Ministry of Presidency, Health, and Emergencies of the Junta.
Ojeda made these statements at a press conference held in Seville alongside the Minister of Presidency, Health, and Emergencies and first vice president of the Junta of Andalusia, Antonio Sanz, on the occasion of the signing of an agreement between the Andalusian government and the SMA.
When questioned by journalists about the strikes that the union is supporting across the country alongside other organizations against the Framework Statute promoted by the Ministry of Health, the leader of the SMA emphasized that the organization cannot "renounce" mobilizations while there is "an open conflict" with the department led by Mónica García in the central government.
However, he stressed that, with the agreement ratified this Wednesday, "a space for dialogue and improvements for the medical collective" in Andalusia is now opened that "would hardly be compatible with an indefinite strike" in the autonomous community.
"Therefore, we have to be very respectful of this type of measures," indicated the president of the SMA, who highlighted that the union maintains "a good relationship with the rest of the medical unions at the national level," and that its intention is "to continue working in coordination, in consensus, and in team with the rest of the medical unions at the national level to continue fighting together" for the "demands" of the "doctors and medical professionals of Spain."
In this line, he specified that, "in principle," the "position" of the Andalusian Medical Union is that "future mobilizations do not negatively impact, as the agreement" signed with the Junta states, "the Andalusian population," so they must "find ways to continue with our mobilizations."
Criticism of the Ministry of Health
Rafael Ojeda has also pointed out that "a fundamental part of the responsibility for the indefinite strike or the strikes" that the union has been supporting "lies with the attitude contrary to negotiation," the "absolute blockade" that he attributes to the Ministry of Health, which, he has denounced, "has done absolutely nothing to put an end to the strike."
"In fact, with their attitude, on many occasions, it gave the impression that they almost wanted to encourage or promote the strike, because, after all, the consequences are paid by the patients, the autonomous communities pay them, but it seems that politically it did not harm them and that they did not care that the strike continued," the president of the SMA has stated in reference to the behavior of the Ministry.
He added that, "as doctors and as medical unions," they must reflect on whether they are "willing to continue with a mobilization that harms the system, the patients, which represents an enormous sacrifice on the part of the medical collective, and that in the end is not leading to anything."
At this point, the highest official of the Andalusian Medical Union has explained that his "bet at this moment is for dialogue, for demonstrations and mobilizations that do not negatively impact patient care," although he has clarified that "this does not mean that in the future this will continue to be the case," since "it will depend on how things progress."
He has also pointed out that from the SMA they intend to "reach a consensus" on this strategy "with colleagues at the national level." "We do not want to go solo on this, because it is also a fact that there are many autonomous communities that are reaching agreements with their respective governments, with their ministries, and there is also a new climate, a new atmosphere," he has stated.
In this context, the president of the Andalusian Medical Union has urged the Andalusian Minister of Health to, "at the national level, the Popular Party (PP) also adopt a common national position for all ministries," and has demanded that the PP itself, "as a party called to govern Spain sooner or later, also adopt a position on the situation of the medical conflict at the national level," so that "it is not only the autonomous communities that are managing this crisis," Rafael Ojeda has concluded.