Weaver Shell | Valencia (EFE).- The Minister of Health, Miguel Mínguez, assures that if he were not in charge of this department and continued working as a doctor, he would not have supported the strike called by the CESM CV and would have accepted the agreement reached with the rest of the unions of the Sector Table.
In an interview with EFE, the minister said he did not understand calling a strike before starting a negotiation and after having implemented measures such as the increase of 6,000 structural staff positions, the Primary Care Plan or the Mental Health and reach a “historic agreement” for public health in the Valencian Community.
Miguel Mínguez (Ojos Negros, Teruel, 1954) confesses that although until a week ago he was “very optimistic” about the possibility that the strike could be called off, now he has “the uncertainty of the response” from the CESM CV because, at this time , “our meeting and negotiation point -he points out- is at the Sector Table”.
“It is likely that in the coming days, looking at the changes that we are going to introduce both in primary care and in specialties, they will change their minds, but -according to the minister- right now there is uncertainty” in case they finally call off the strike planned for the days April 3 and May 8, after the one already carried out on March 6.
negotiating environment
The negotiating environment “is one of open doors, we are very proactive and I have to respond to the general interest of health personnel and, in particular, of the doctor, whose figure is essential and we must improve it,” he highlights.
“As a professional, as a doctor, I would have accepted the current proposals and would not go along with the strike. I think that the strike is the last resort when the administration either doesn’t take care of you, or ignores you, or is telling you things that you don’t agree with,” says Mínguez.
Asked if the union could have other motivations than just labor or compensation, as their protest coincided with the months prior to municipal and regional elections, Mínguez affirms that “at no time” has “any political indication, neither of the strike nor of the rest of the unions. They have been labor, economic and fundamentally organizational demands”.
Agreement to promote Primary Care
The Minister of Health assures that “without a doubt” the agreement to promote Primary Care signed this week with five of the six unions of the Sectoral Board of Health is the most far-reaching and important reached between both parties and “it will go to the history”, as it responds to “historical claims” of health personnel.
As he explained to EFE, the agreement is “a complement” to the Primary Care Strategic Plan that was promoted at the beginning of 2022, an initiative in which 325 million euros were invested and human resources were increased, but with which “it does not an obvious improvement was observed immediately”.
“I was confident that in October, November or December of that year the waiting list would decrease and the citizen would notice the improvement” but after the pandemic, the demand for Primary Care grew by 20% and there was also a significant increase in care due to problems of mental health, although in the first months of 2023 a decrease is observed: “We believe that there will be a trend towards normalization,” he adds.
Necessary changes
Thus, after holding meetings with the unions and health departments, “we clearly saw that changes had to be made,” not only in terms of economic or personnel growth, according to Mínguez, but also “governance, work agendas, and protection systems.”
This responds to aspects such as the 35-hour work week, whose implementation will be effective as of January 1, 2025, and the limitation of daily schedules of 35 patients for Family doctors and 28 for Primary pediatricians, and the average number of health cards per doctor, as well as increasing the remuneration for the hour on call.
Asked if they will continue negotiating despite being weeks away from regional elections, he replies that some elections “should not matter to them in that sense. The improvement in Primary and Specialized Care has to be done yes or yes. There are elections and whoever wins wins, it is my mission, I am here to manage”.
Mínguez, appointed successor to the socialist Ana Barceló at the head of Health at the proposal of the PSPV but who carries out his position as an independent, affirms that if the Government of the Botànic is reissued after the elections, and if the president Ximo Puig tells him to continue in the position, will answer in the affirmative if in the coming months the initiatives that have been put in place make it possible to “make visible an improvement in care”.
“I am very demanding with the degree of personal satisfaction and if I see that I can’t achieve anything, I don’t continue,” he says. EFE