There is a lack of doctors, it has been repeated for years. From the ministry of health (Catalan or other communities) balls are usually thrown outside. That if the number has been increased (never enough), that if there are no more to hire... The volume of patients per doctor and the long waits to see a specialist show that Spanish public health care lacks doctors.
But Spain has a ratio of these members per inhabitant higher than that of other European countries such as France or Germany and, for this reason, there are those who say in the sector that there is no shortage of doctors, that they just need to be redistributed better since only some specialties are deficient.
The Ministry of Health published a report a couple of years ago that analyzed that by 2024 there would be a shortage of around 8,000 doctors. In the demarcation of Barcelona alone, 1,000 will retire a year until 2026. The measures to compensate for this situation should have been taken years ago and not enough was done. Last year, the central government decided to increase the number of places in medical schools by 15%. There are those who claim that, when those currently enrolled in the first year finish their studies, there is a risk of training more professionals than will be needed.
Last Saturday, almost 14,000 applicants for 8,772 places took the resident doctor exam (MIR), to access practical training in health centers. 40% are left out; they will hardly enter public health. Could more places be called? Yes, they have been increasing in recent years, but moderately. This year there are 222 more than last year. The places have an economic cost – even if poorly paid, the MIRs have a salary – that the administrations do not want to shoot up.
This year there were thirty more places in community and family medicine, the majority specialty. A year ago, around 200 were not chosen: there are graduates who do not want to be primary care doctors; they put off the overload of work, going to a rural consultation, which is an undervalued specialty...
From obstacle to obstacle. It is already known that the demand for healthcare can be infinite, but in this area everything always leads to the perennial underfunding of economic resources and the effects that this entails. Patients, it's time to resist and keep asking for more doctors.
