Hospitals and health centres in the Balearics will operate with minimum services equivalent to those established on public holidays between 16 and 20 March due to the second week of the strike called by medical staff in protest against the reform of the Framework Statute. As reported on Friday by the Regional Ministry of Health in a statement, minimum services will apply from 00:00 on Monday 16 until 23:59 on Friday 20 and will be equivalent to those established on public holidays.
In hospital care, healthcare services that do not provide on-call cover on public holidays will ensure the presence of a doctor on the morning shift. In central services, operations will be maintained with 30 per cent of the usual staff, except in radiophysics, where coverage will be 50 per cent, and in haematology and haemotherapy, with 50 per cent of staff.
In medical specialities with inpatients and in services treating hospitalised patients, one specialist per department will be added to the morning shift, except in anaesthesia, where two specialists will be on duty. Urgent or critical hospital services will operate as normal. This includes medical oncology and haematology, radiotherapy, oncological surgery, A&E, dialysis, day hospital and hospital pharmacy.
In addition, minimum on-call services will be guaranteed with the same number of staff who usually provide this service. In primary care, each health centre will have one doctor and one paediatrician on the morning shift, from 08.00 to 15.00. In centres with more than 20,500 registered patients, there will be two doctors and one paediatrician.
During the afternoon shift, from 3.00 pm to 8.00 pm, the presence of one doctor and one paediatrician, where available, will be ensured. During the continuous care shifts (PAC), from 3.00 pm to 11.59 pm, all doctors and paediatricians providing this service must be present. Urgent and emergency services, such as SUAP and 061, will maintain full coverage, with no disruption due to the strike.
Next week’s doctors’ strike is the second of five planned by the Committee up to June. The first took place on the same dates last February, and the next ones are scheduled for 27–30 April, 18–22 May and 15–19 June. The Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions has confirmed that rallies are scheduled throughout the week in Aragon, the Balearics, the Canary Islands, the Valencian Community, Murcia, Extremadura, Castile and León, Castile-La Mancha, Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Andalusia and Galicia.