All autonomous communities, along with Ceuta and Melilla, have requested the Ministry of Health to reopen negotiations for the healthcare framework statute from the beginning. This text has been the subject of several doctors' strikes and is causing an entrenched labor conflict.
The Minister of Health, Mónica García, stated that "there is no excuse to reset the clock to zero" and rejected restarting negotiations. She argues that it would break the agreement reached with the sector's unions and would not improve the working conditions of healthcare professionals, who have been awaiting improvements for 20 years.
The 17 autonomous communities sent a joint letter demanding that the minister open a new negotiation process with "dialogue, institutional loyalty, and a willingness to reach an agreement." This is the third time the communities have presented a similar request.
Health councilors, such as César Pascual from Cantabria, have criticized the situation, comparing it to "designing an airplane without talking to those who have to fly it." They warned that the entrenched conflict severely affects healthcare assistance, the quality of care, and patient safety.
The current status of the draft bill for the Framework Statute was one of the main agenda items at the meeting of the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), which concluded without consensus.
