Only Two Out of 228 MIR Positions in Alicante Assigned to Family Medicine

The story repeats itself year after year: the Family Medicine specialty continues to fail to attract MIR candidates in Alicante. This is the main conclusion that can be drawn after the first week of the position allocation process.

As of this Monday, 228 out of the 287 training vacancies offered by the MIR program in the province have been assigned, and only two of them belong to the Family and Community Medicine specialty. The figure is striking, considering it is the specialty offering the most positions: around 80 in Alicante's health centers.

This means that barely less than 2.5% of the positions have been assigned, while other specialties have already filled all their vacancies. The two solitary positions assigned (after the first round of allocation this Monday) have gone to the health departments of La Marina Baixa and the Alicante-General Hospital Department.

The challenging working conditions of family doctors, with daily schedules that can exceed 50 patients, traditionally make it the least attractive specialty for future residents. It is worth noting that the priority in choosing a position is determined by the score obtained in the MIR exam. This results in the specialties that fill their positions first being the most sought after, something that does not happen with Family Medicine.

The same situation occurred last year. At the final stage of the allocation process, 83% of the positions pending assignment belonged to Family Medicine, specifically 59 out of 71.

At the other end of the spectrum are specialties such as Anesthesiology and Resuscitation, which with 14 positions is the one that has assigned the most in the province of Alicante. It is followed by Obstetrics and Gynecology (13), Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology (11), and Pediatrics (10).

This uneven distribution is also evident at the territorial level. While hospitals located in large urban areas of the province are the most sought after for training, regional centers do not follow the same trend.

This is demonstrated by the fact that the General Hospital of Alicante has already assigned 52 positions, while its counterpart in Elche has assigned 19, and the University Hospital of Sant Joan d'Alacant, 15. At the other end are the hospitals of Alcoi, Orihuela, Dénia, Elda, Marina Baixa, and Torrevieja, none of which have yet distributed more than five training positions.