"It's been years, many meetings, many negotiation sessions, and a very complex text that hadn't been touched in 22 years," declared a relieved Health Minister Mónica García after announcing on Monday the agreement for a new Framework Statute for healthcare professionals. Several labor unions have signed the agreement, but not the medical unions. The Framework Statute is the law that regulates the working conditions of healthcare professionals throughout Spain, and its update has been one of Minister García's priorities this legislative term. There was a lot of back and forth between unions and management, strikes, and threats to end up putting the text in a drawer.Finally, an agreement has been reached with the unions SATSE-FSES, CCOO, UGT, and CSIF. However, the text—which must be approved by the Council of Ministers and subsequently processed as a law in the Congress of Deputies and the Senate—is flawed from the start, since It does not have the support of medical unionsThey have repeatedly demanded a single collective bargaining agreement that exclusively protects the working conditions of doctors. In fact, the national strike committee, comprised of the Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM), the Andalusian Medical Union (SMA), Doctors of Catalonia (MC), the Association of Doctors and Higher Graduates of Madrid (AMYTS), the Basque Medical Union (SME), and the Basque Country Medical Union (O'MEGA), has already announced a monthly strike day starting in February. The agreed-upon text ends 24-hour on-call shifts and reduces them to 17 hours, limits the weekly working hours to 45, regulates rest periods, and recognizes the right to work-life balance, among other improvements. "This is the broadest agreement reached to date for a statute of this kind in our national health system," the minister asserted, thanking the union representatives for their commitment, responsibility, and loyalty. García also highlighted the more than 60 meetings held to shape this agreement and expressed confidence that it will be approved, even though it must go through Congress and the Senate for processing.

The power struggle that the government of the popular Isabel Díaz Ayuso is maintaining with the Ministry of Health over thenon-compliance with the abortion law The case has a new chapter in the High Court of Justice of Madrid. The department of Minister Mónica García has filed an administrative appeal demanding that the high court compel the Community of Madrid to create a registry of physicians who are conscientious objectors to abortion, a list mandated by the 2023 law and used to help plan gynecological services in healthcare centers. "It is proven that the regional administration has not complied with the obligation imposed on it by law. [...] It is also beyond doubt that it has not responded, nor is there any record of it having taken any action, in relation to the request made by the Minister of Health to the Regional Minister of Health," argues the document, to which this publication has had access.

The CEO of Ribera Salut – the company that manages the Torrejón de Ardoz Hospital in Madrid – Pablo Gallart, has temporarily stepped down from his responsibilities at this healthcare center following the release of audio recordings of a meeting in which He ordered the rejection of unprofitable patients or procedures in order to lengthen waiting lists and increase his profits.The Ribera group has stated in a press release that Gallart's withdrawal from the hospital's management aims to "guarantee the group's values and ethics." The recordings that triggered this move were published by the newspaper. The Country These statements correspond to a meeting held on September 25th with management from the group and the hospital. In one of his remarks, Gallart said: "In Torrejón, in 2022 and 2023, we decided as an organization to make an effort to reduce the waiting list. All I ask is: let's reverse course." Now, the management company claims to be conducting an "in-depth" audit with the aim of "guaranteeing that there has been no breach of quality standards in patient care, professional ethics, or the law."

"The number of doctors will not increase, despite the waiting lists, despite the retirements, despite the layoffs, despite the lack of specialists. The new mantra of the regional ministry is that there is no shortage of doctors." This, which could be written today and would still be just as valid, I wrote on July 28, 2021, in an article titled Medicine without doctors published in this same newspaper.

The health card could be affected throughout this Wednesday due to a technical problem affecting the Data Processing Center (CPD) of the Ministry of Health. The incident was reported early this Wednesday, the day of Sant Jordi. Mónica García stated that "all signs" indicated that the incident would be resolved throughout the morning, but it has not yet been officially resolved. The Specialized Health Training (FSE) program, which takes place this Wednesday, was also affected this morning. According to government sources, the General Directorate of Professional Regulation has sent individual email communications to those affected by this incident. However, the process was able to resume around 12:30 p.m.

The clash between the Spanish Ministry of Health and regions over the agreement on opening times and maximum capacity for the hospitality industry is growing. Both Madrid and the Basque Country advanced in the morning that they would not apply it and they were joined shortly afterwards by the Balearic Islands, governed by the Socialists. The Islands' government had not positioned itself against the measures in the Interterritorial Health Council meeting held on Wednesday. This opens a clash of legitimacy on the role of the Interterritorial Health Council: the Spanish government argues that the decisions taken, even if they are not unanimous, must be binding, while communities claim that it is their competence to regulate on opening times for different premises. The Ministry of Health, however, has opened the door to allowing each community to do what it deems appropriate. In statements to RNE, the minister has defended the measures to "reduce cumulative incidence", but at the same time has avoided raising the prospect of a court case if the regions do not implement the agreement.

The pace of vaccination continues to accelerate in the State after the problems with AstraZeneca and Janssen, which led the European Union to entrust Pfizer with the purchase of 50 million additional doses this quarter. Thus, the Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, announced on Monday from La Rioja that today Spain will beat the record of arrival and distribution of vaccines among regions, with the arrival of more than 2 million doses in a single day. Specifically, it is 1,763,190 from Pfizer, 103,200 from AstraZeneca and 188,400 from Moderna, while waiting for Janssen to send the second shipment promised for April. As for Catalonia, it will receive 280,000 doses from Pfizer, 30,200 from Moderna and 16,900 from AstraZeneca.

Spain is getting ready for the covid passport, which the European authorities have called the 'digital green certificate'. The European Commission's decision to give the green light to the first draft of the document has opened the door to the Ministry of Health to start planning for the arrival of foreigners in summer, after weeks of pressure in Brussels, along with Italy and Greece, so that vaccinated people could move unimpeded through the European Union. In the end, however, it will be up to each European state to decide what restrictions to impose, regardless of the certificate.

On Wednesday, the first 300,000 doses of Janssen, the new vaccine in a portfolio already containing Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca, will arrive in Spain. The novelty of this vaccine lies in the fact that a single dose is sufficient for immunisation. The Spanish Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has announced this Monday morning from the airport of Gran Canaria that the first doses would be allotted to those aged between 70 and 79, who are currently receiving the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, Efe informs.

No travelling between regions, curfew at the latest at 23h and meetings in public and private spaces up to six people and four maximum indoors. These will finally be the restrictions that will come into force throughout the state - with the exception of the Canary Islands and Balearic Islands, where travellers having obtained a negative PCR test result will be allowed - from Thursday in the face of the Easter holidays. The Ministry of Health and the regions have not reached an agreement within the inter-territorial council to tighten the measures, as the head of the Spanish government, Carolina Darias, was seeking. She proposed the closure of non-essential activity at 20h, as advanced this morning by El Mundo and confirmed by the Catalan Health Minister, Alba Vergés, who was reluctant to the idea pending further details.

Only three days after urgently agreeing the suspension of the vaccination with AstraZeneca, Spain has decided to resume the campaign from next week following the latest endorsement by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). This has been agreed by the Ministry of Health with the autonomous communities. Unlike countries like Italy, which will begin tomorrow Friday, the State will wait until next week: firstly because tomorrow is a holiday in many regions, and also because the system needs some time to reschedule all the patients.

The Ministry of Health and the regions will meet again this afternoon at the first inter-territorial health council presided over by the new health minister, Carolina Darias, accompanied by her successor in Territorial Policy, Miquel Iceta, with two main issues on the table. The first, to respond to the multitude of complaints about politicians and influential people who have been vaccinated against the coronavirus skipping the protocol, as well as the shortage of vaccines due to distribution problems in the European Union at a time when 72.5% of the population would like to be vaccinated immediately, according to the latest barometer of the Centre for Sociological Research (CIS).

Carolina Darias said on Tuesday that she took on the "challenge" of being Minister of Health with "hope, responsibility and a lot of humility". After promising the post before the king, and after Salvador Illa gave her the new portfolio, she explained that her plan is to follow the "path traced" by her predecessor, of whom she praised his "temperance" and "hopeful" tone. However, the fact is that Illa leaves the ministry at the worst moment of the third wave, with a daily record of both infections and deaths, which yesterday rose to 591 in the whole state, the highest figures since the first wave. Darias has to face many challenges, but we collect the most important ones.