Madrid physicians agree on “temporary suspension” of the strike until January 11

The physicians and pediatricians of Madrid have decided to put an end to the strike they had been on strike for a month. After a new meeting, the sixth, between the strike committee and the Regional Ministry of Health, it has been agreed the temporary suspension until a new meeting to analyze the latest proposals from the department headed by Enrique Ruiz Escudero.

This is not a pre-agreement, but a temporary suspension, clarify from the AMYTS union. Its general secretary, Ángela Hernández, has explained, at the end of the meeting, that it is a “temporary suspension”.reformulation by both parties of the situation”, which he recalled was “absolutely stuck”, until a new meeting to be held on January 11.

The meeting ended after three o’clock in the afternoon. Hernandez has detailed that there are two points to be studied by both parties before calling for a new meeting to see if “an agreement can be reached or if the indefinite strike will have to continue”.

The measures to be studied are the increase in the value of the individual health card. (assigned population) to each professional in the category of family physician and pediatrician. And the incentive for the coverage of family physicians and pediatricians. pediatricians in the afternoon shift.

“No need to go out with a crooked-arm feeling. There has been a very big effort on both sides to find a workplace again, which is where we are. We have to assess these measures, we cannot specify more out of respect for the negotiation and on January 11 we will be able to assess more,” said the secretary general of the union who, she clarified, is not a “principle of agreement, nor a truce.” What there is, she said, is “an agreement on a temporary suspension of the indefinite strike.

On January 11 it will be seen whether the positions have been brought sufficiently closer or the strike will continue on January 12.”

Stranded conflict

The last meeting between the two parties took place last Thursday and ended with the positions more distanced than ever. That same day, the Regional Ministry of Health assured that the last proposal of the committee was to eliminate the afternoon shift in the health centers and that they were not going to do anything about it.

From AMYTS they called “false” the autonomous government’s assertions regarding its claim of suppressing care in the afternoons and were again inviting the regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to meet with them. They insisted on the lack of “political will” to resolve the conflict after five meetings: on November 18, 23 and 24 and December 2 and 15.

That last day, even, and in view of the failure of the negotiations, nine members of the strike committee locked themselves in one of the headquarters of the Ministry, in Sagasta Street, a lockout that ended on Friday night. A total of 4,240 family doctors and 720 pediatricians from 430 health centers in the region were called to the strike.

Earlier today, hours before the meeting, a joint communiqué was released by the directors of the health centers of the Community, as a management body integrated into the structure of the organization and” as the backbone of the managerial functions of the Management of AP and the care of professionals.”

After a month of indefinite strike, they have asked the Regional Ministry of Health for a meeting in which to negotiate “in a serious and responsible manner the improvement of the critical situation” that this level of care is going through in the region.

The directors of the health centers have appealed for the establishment of “a fluid, continuous and proactive dialogue. between both parties to facilitate the cancellation of the strike that is causing harm to the citizens” and that Health assumes responsibility in the resolution of the conflict “without entering into continuous disqualifications”. that do not help to improve it”..

“A Fluid Dialogue”.

Health center directors have appealed for the establishment of “a fluid, continuous and proactive dialogue. between both parties to facilitate the cancellation of the strike that is causing harm to the citizens” and that Health assumes responsibility in the resolution of the conflict “without entering into continuous disqualifications”. that do not help to improve it”.

They have also called for “as active an involvement as possible of the PA Management and the different care directions that compose it, as well as institutional meetings to be able to provide solutions to this serious situation” and, in addition, they have “fully” supported the demands on which the strike call is based. They reiterate that it is “an imperative need” to increase investment in primary care to 25% of total healthcare spending, because, they believe, “it is essential to increase investment in primary care to 25% of total healthcare spending”, the Integral Improvement Plan of the region 2022/23 “is not achieving the desired results in building loyalty and attracting new professionals”.

They reiterate that it is “an imperative need” to increase investment in primary care to 25% of total health spending, because, they consider, the Comprehensive Improvement Plan for the region 2022/23. “is not achieving the desired results in building loyalty and attracting new professionals”.

After this Thursday’s meeting, general secretary of AMYTS said that “there is still no budget increase” but did not want to anticipate what they will present at the next meeting “That is precisely where we will have to evaluate, maybe on the 11th we will arrive and they tell us that they have studied it and it is not viable.. So we are at the same point as today,” he concluded.