Doctors’ statute waits: health reform goes to Congress

A separate doctors’ statute can only follow once Spain’s wider health-professions reform has cleared Congress, Health Minister Mónica García says. García set out the order in Madrid on 9 September 2026, as the bill for the Estatuto Marco — the legal framework for all health professionals — goes before MPs. She said a doctors-only text could come later, but not at the cost of the wider measure.

Union deals and changes in Congress

García said the Basque Country’s report on the Estatuto Marco had been favourable. She also rejected claims that the government approved the bill in the Council of Ministers without agreement.

She urged critics not to undermine deals with Comisiones Obreras (CCOO), Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT), Central Sindical Independiente y de Funcionarios (CSIF) and the nursing union SATSE, calling them the legitimate representatives at the negotiating table.

The minister welcomed parliamentary debate, saying the government puts forward proposals and leaves them open to amendments. She also called for a cross-party working group in Congress to examine the legal framework and working conditions of doctors, while saying every effort had been made to stop strikes.

Ceuta row brings vaccines and migration into debate

In a separate exchange, People’s Party MP Carmen Fúnez accused García of calling people in Ceuta xenophobic over the migration crisis. Fúnez also said extra health staff had not appeared on the ground and that replacement contracts were being counted as reinforcements.

García said all autonomous communities, including those governed by the People’s Party, had supplied the 45,000 vaccine doses needed for Ceuta. She answered criticism over vaccine reserves and delays by saying the doses belong to patients, not the People’s Party.

She also accused People’s Party-led regions of refusing to house children and teenagers as required by law or provide humanitarian spaces for migrants. García rejected talk of an invasion, referring to mothers arriving with children on inflatable rings and girls fleeing poverty and hunger.

Topics: Strikes · Jobs & labour · Migration · Health · Politics

Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com