"Drums of indefinite strike knock on doors," doctors warn

"Time is running out." The United Medical Movement (MUD) has warned in the last few hours that "the drums of the indefinite strike are knocking on the door" if inaction and minimal negotiations continue.

According to the union, moreover, the issue is not limited to wages. "It is not a wage dispute; it is a much deeper problem because the survival of public health in the Basque Country is at stake. "

Javier Fernández, Elena del Val and Sara Lizeaga, on behalf of the platforms that make up the MUD and other medical groups in the Basque Country, yesterday criticized the Basque Government's Health Adviser, Alberto Martínez, who, in their opinion, has conveyed to the public a "deliberately blurred and wrong message" and stressed that the atmosphere is "very heated "and" time is running out. "

"Endless Days"

According to the MUD, the measures proposed by the Basque Government do not solve the structural problem that the sector has been dragging on for more than a year. They say that the viability of the public system will not be resolved by means of a special investment of EUR 70 million for improvements for doctors, but that the current situation is based on the consequences of years of lack of planning, overcrowded agendas and 'endless working hours'.

They have also reported an overload of work, with many doctors working between 60 and 70 hours a week, accumulating more than a thousand overtime hours a year, and having to attend 40 to 50 patients in primary care and hospitals in a single morning, which, in their view, makes itimpossible to provide "decent and quality care."

"This is our main concern because they are forgetting what is really important: the quality of care given to patients and their clinical safety," they said.

They insist once again that the issue is notoneof wages: 'It is not a wage dispute; the future of public health in the Basque Country is at stake'.

Criticism from the strike committee

Meanwhile, in Madrid, the medical strike committee has criticized the Spanish Minister for Health, Mónica García, for refusing to resolve the conflict over the Framework Statute through dialogue and for trying to "confuse "public opinion through" targeted and inaccurate "communiqués.

In a statement, the strike committee has denied various claims made by the Ministry of Health regarding the negotiation of the Framework Statute.

According to the Commission, it is not true that the preliminary draft law on the Framework Statute contains all the claims of doctors, except those that are legally unworkable or fall within the competence of the Autonomous Communities, as indicated by the Ministry, who believe that the main demands at the heart of the conflict have not yet been received.