These new mobilizations follow previous strikes held in October and December, as the MC union asserts that no significant progress has been made in negotiations with the Health Ministry since those dates.
“"Do you know how many meetings we have had with the Minister or with the Department of Health? Zero."
The Department of Labor has established minimum services, requiring extra-hospital care centers and primary care centers (CAPs) to operate with 25% of the staff. However, emergency services, special units (ICU, neonatology, hemodialysis), urgent radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, and care for admitted patients must function normally.
In addition to the strike, doctors will hold two demonstrations in central Barcelona. On Wednesday, the mobilization will start at 10:30 a.m. in Plaça de Sant Jaume and proceed to the Parliament of Catalonia. On Thursday, January 15, the protest will depart from the Corporate Center of the Catalan Health Institute (ICS) and conclude at the headquarters of the employers' association Unió Catalana d'Hospitals (UCH).
The main demands of Metges de Catalunya include establishing a specific collective agreement for medical staff and progressively reducing 24-hour shifts to a maximum of 12 consecutive hours. The union also requests that these hours be compensated as overtime, rather than supplementary shifts, to improve financial remuneration.
