The Ministry of Health Seeks to Impose Exclusivity on Executives and Heads of Service

The Ministry of Health aims to require all hospital and health centre executives to dedicate themselves exclusively to the public system. In her negotiation proposal for the National Health System Personnel Framework, Minister Mónica García suggests that managers, heads of service, and intermediate positions should not have their own private practices and should only work in public services. "We seek to avoid conflicts of interest," García emphasized during a press conference in Madrid on Wednesday.

Without naming them explicitly, the minister recalled cases such as the Dermatology departments in Madrid hospitals, where six heads of service simultaneously run private clinics while the waiting lists in their departments grow. "Being a head of service in public healthcare is prestigious, and some heads have subsequently earned significant sums in private healthcare," García continued, insisting that the healthcare system "deserves professionals dedicated exclusively to it, especially those in leadership roles."

"Executive positions, the roles of responsibility in our healthcare system, already have enough work and responsibility, and their focus should be exclusively on the healthcare system," García reiterated. The minister highlighted that most public healthcare executives do not work simultaneously in the private sector, although the Health Ministry's goal is to formalize this exclusive dedication in writing.

The Ministry and unions have already begun negotiations on the National Health System Framework, the 'Magna Carta' for healthcare professionals, a dialogue that will include regional governments at the beginning of February and lays the groundwork for how professionals should operate.

The text also seeks to end 24-hour shifts and ensure that a doctor's workday does not exceed 17 hours. "There is a public outcry against 24-hour shifts that endanger both professionals and citizens. No one wants to be a patient treated in the 23rd hour of a doctor's shift," García noted.

Additionally, the Health Ministry's proposal includes measures to ensure gender parity in health centre executive positions, which are currently male-dominated. "Women also want to occupy these roles, but they face not only the glass ceiling but also the sticky floor," García stated.

So far, the minister assured, her proposals have been well received, although the text does not have an approval date as it must still go through several phases: unions, regional governments, and subsequent parliamentary processing.

In her appearance, the minister also accused PP-led regions of "boycotting" her department's recommendations to prevent the flu epidemic, such as mandatory mask-wearing in hospitals when a certain incidence threshold is exceeded. "These are such basic measures that I don't understand why some regions don't implement them. These governments will have to answer to their citizens," García remarked, pointing to Madrid as the leader of the 'rebellious' regions.

Regarding Muface, the minister emphasized that insurers have decided "that mutualists are no longer profitable because they have aged" and added that the National Health System "will welcome with open arms" those who lose coverage if an agreement is not reached.