The controversy continues over the average annual salary of Primary Care doctors in Andalusia. This Wednesday, in the Health Commission of the Parliament of Andalusia, the Minister of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Junta de Andalucía, Catalina Garciahas encrypted in some 78,000 euros for the remuneration of family medicine physicians.
This new figure “which varies every month“according to the counselor, comes to reduce the one offered on May 11when the head of Health assured that the salary of a family doctor from the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) in 2023 was 97,888 euros, nearly 1,000 euros above the national average. The Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs cited the Ministry of Health as the source of this data. A fact that outraged and made professionals and unions jump.
Since then, this newspaper has asked the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs on four occasions for a report with the data and calculations on the salaries of doctors, but the Administration has not provided this information for now.
Health had to rectify the figure
From the Andalusian Council of Medical Colleges (CACM) denied these figures and requested “an immediate rectification” by the Department of Health and Consumer Affairs of the Government of Andalusia. “A family doctor in Andalusia perceives 41,275 euros per year as gross salarydestination complement and specific complement”, this body stated then.
For its part, the Andalusian Medical Union (S.M.A.) issued a statement calling for García’s resignation or dismissal. “As stated in the SAS Remuneration Resolution, which is public, the salary of a Primary Care doctor, whether a Family Doctor or Pediatrician, is 41,678.16 euros per year“.
78,000 euros “variables”
A few days later, the head of Health rectified the controversial figure of 97,888 euros and reduced it to 78,000. This Wednesday, in the Health Commission in the Parliament of Andalusia, García has insisted on this remuneration in response to the question posed by the Socialist Parliamentary Group. The head of Health explained that this remuneration “varies each month” taking into account concepts such as trienniums, professional career level, on-call and continuity of care.
Last Friday, the Medical Union issued a statement in which it showed a “real payroll of a Primary Care doctor in the SAS.” For the SMA, the change in the figures offered by the counselor on the salaries of doctors, from 97,888 to 78,000 euros per year, was considered as proof “that the first information was false.” “How can we know that he is telling the truth now?”stated the statement.
The counselor’s explanations
The first figure offered by Catalina García as the salary of Primary Care physicians, 97,888 euros per year, meant almost 1,000 euros above the national average. In the Health Commission this Wednesday, however, the counselor contradicted herself by stating: “We believe that we have to continue improving the conditions of doctors in Andalusia, who of course we don’t reach that average“. As for the reason, the counselor has pointed out to the rest of the autonomous communities: “Just as we raise the salaries of doctors, The rest of the autonomous communities continue to raise salaries, which is why we have not reached that average“.
Regarding the specific data on the salaries of Family Medicine doctors, the counselor’s explanations have provided some somewhat confusing explanations: “I do have the data on how many doctors charge in that percentile that We said he is a ‘typical’ doctor, not the average salary, but ‘type’, which was that person between 45 and 50 years old, who had a level 3 professional career, who earned a series of hours. A typical professional, and here I have the number of professionals who in the public health system charge that amount.”
“What does a doctor who finishes specialized training earn? Just when he finishes his specialized degree and we start paying him in the SAS His first payroll earns 58,000 euros per year. Because there we take into account the first triennium with which he leaves the specialized company and enters with his exclusive of 600 euros, which is 58,000 euros,” the Health Minister has tried to clarify.
“The salary of doctors in Andalusia, the destination complement and the triennia is the same throughout the National Health System (SNS), because it is established by the General State Budget Law,” García pointed out. “They are the rest of accessories those that make the salary of a doctor in Andalusia different from that of the rest of the autonomous communities, and varies every monthbecause it depends on continuities of care, on-call hours, three-year periods, higher career level,” the counselor insisted.
“But it is true that the average salaries that most of the doctors in Andalusia earn, the average is 78,000 euros. These 78,000 euros have been calculated by averaging what doctors earn in their fixed salaries, in three-year periods, in their professional career, in care continuities, other supplements and productivity.“.
The ICU of the Muñoz Cariñanos hospital
Another of the points of the Health Commission this Wednesday was the closure of the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) of the Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital. To the question posed by the Socialist Group, the counselor limited herself to answering “The ICU has not been closed”. A statement that the unions denounce as flatly false.
Last week, a demonstration took place from the doors of the Muñoz Cariñanos to those of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital, on which it depends administratively, to denounce “the ICU closure” of this hospital center during the summer starting June 1.
The different union sources consulted by this newspaper following the statement made by the Minister of Health this Wednesday contradict it. “The ICU is physically closed and unstaffed. The professionals who worked in the ICU have assigned shift schedules at the Virgen del Rocío Hospital,” says Silvia Zafra, head of the Health sector in CSIF Seville.
For its part, UGT also states that the ICU of the Muñoz Cariñanos Hospital “continues closed since May 1, strictly. The professionals are all in Virgen del Rocío. And here the hospital is collapsed because there is Covid everywhere,” these sources assure. “In trauma wards there are people with Covid. In traumatology there are 15 beds missing. The hospital is all the way up,” they report from UGT.
The Health Secretary CCOO Sevilla, Mª José Wanceulen, also affirms the closure of this ICU. “Again it is false information, the Military UCI is closed since May 1, with padlock and everything“. And he adds that “we are aware of serious healthcare events that have occurred since the closure, including the overflow of the ICU of the General Hospital. We are very concerned about this situation and We do not rule out filing a complaint with the Prosecutor’s Office. “If we allow the safety of the patient and professionals to be put at risk, we would be co-responsible.”