The president of the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SEGG), José Augusto García Navarro
Some of the medical specialties in Spain urgently need a impulse and the Ministry of Health is willing to work as soon as possible to modify a actual deficit situation. Recently the Minister of Health, Carolina Dariasaffirmed that it was necessary to promote without delay the template needs required from different medical specialties. Among those affected is Geriatricswhich has proposed to double the number of MIR vacancies to combat the chronicity that the specialty has suffered for years.
The president of the Spanish Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SEGG), Jose Augusto Garcia Navarrohas explained in Medical Writing that the main current problem is that “there are geriatricians via MIR and they have a job as soon as they leave, because there are more seats at this time that geriatricians in production. Now there are a hundred geriatricians in training, we thought we should go to the double to be able to cover all the needs that may arise in Spain. The MIR positions in Geriatrics were 95 and the great volume of them was distributed among Catalonia and Madrid“.
On the other hand, the president of the SEGG has recalled the enormous shortage of specialists that many communities suffer today: “The problem we have in Geriatrics is the enormous heterogeneity in terms of work depending on the autonomous community in question. The two most gifted communities in this regard are Madrid and Cataloniawhile at the other extreme we find Andalusia and the Basque Countrywho did not recognize this specialty until last year. It will be a long time yet until hospitals in these regions have Geriatrics services. They have a recent starting point, start from scratch”.
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“Andalusia and the Basque Country did not recognize the specialty until last year” |
With regard to the rest of the Spanish geography, García has shown that many provinces do not have a good service within this specialty, a fact that is due change as soon as possible: “The rest of the communities have a distribution that I would describe as improvable. To give an example, in Castile and Leon There is a Geriatrics unit in Segovia, Valladolid and Lionbut not in Burgos O Palencia. In the Valencian Community yes it exists in Valenciabut it is not so in Castellón. These are communities that have to clearly reinforce this specialty”.
People over 85, on the rise
One of the main arguments that García has put forward on the table to increase geriatric beds is that “we are a country that has the 4 percent of people over the age of 85 and this percentage will grow even more. Because of this, we are going to need more specialists in Geriatrics. It is not regarding caring for all these patients, but rather those who suffer from a greater number of diseases, accumulate dependency and need health care”.
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“Spain has 4 percent of people over 85 years of age” |
Another request that the president has defended is that all the General servicesstarting with the hospitals, there should be a Geriatrics service: “Beds are needed to be able to admit patients, external consultations to be able to do outpatient diagnostics and support that they have the possibility of visiting elderly people with a high burden of disease and who are admitted to other specialties with interconsultations”.
Unify specialties to improve diagnosis
Develop Geriatrics within other specialties is another of the bets defended by SEGG with the aim of offering a homogeneous treatment in terms of quality towards people affected by one or more pathologies. “In places where this specialty has a strong presence, such as Madrid and Catalonia, the Oncogeriatría, or join geriatricians with traumatologists in ortho geriatric units. Another example might be to start with Cardiology and end up generating geriatric cardiology. These unions have been made for many years and allow to greatly complement the vision of a single specialist with many more nuances to the diagnosis. This ends up having an impact on better treatment”, confirms the president of the SEGG.
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