The State Council of Medical Students (CEEM) has replied on her Twitter profile to the words that the president of the Community of Madrid pronounced this Thursday on Onda Cero, Isabel Diaz Ayuso.
The ‘popular’ leader, asked regarding health management in her region, complained regarding the lack of doctors, a problem that she blamed on a “lack of medical schools and the problems of validating doctors who come from abroad.” Ayuso also complained that the focus is on Madrid for being more media.
On Twitter, the CEEM has denied this theory and explained why what the ‘popular’ leader said is not true. “No, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, there is no need for more medical schools. And since it seems that this concept does not fit into the political ideology, we are going to summarize why”, the Council pointed out.
From the CEEM it has been reported that in Spain, indeed, there has been a lack of doctors for a long time, especially in rural areas and Primary Care. This problem, as the agency has commented, is expected to increase “given that many of the active doctors are going to retire in the next 10 years.”
However, the solution, the CEEM explained on Twitter, is not to open more faculties or have more students, something known as increasing the Clausus Numbers of universities.
The crux of the matter is the MIR exam that must be passed to enter the National Health System as residents following six years of study.
This is how he explained it: “The places that are offered annually for the MIR, as you well know, are limited, and they should be, since they must meet minimum training and quality requirements. If we offered places without any criteria, we would be wasting public resources. In this way, if the vacancies at the MIR are limited, and can only be increased when the teaching units certify that they meet the minimum essential requirements to train residents, it is absolutely useless for us to open more medical schools”.
In this way, the CEEM has added, it only contributes to the fact that more and more medical students, when they reach 6th grade and graduate, have to battle among themselves for the same places.
For this reason, he has complained regarding statements like Ayuso’s: “And this excuse of opening more faculties, which is very attractive politically and in the media, under the pretext that there will be a lack of doctors, is already costing us a lot.”
You have listed some of the consequences of seeking these types of justifications. These range from economic resources to investing money in students who do not have a place and must go abroad, through training resources. It also affects the mental health of the students, who following six years of studying can see how they do not have a place, something that “burns a lot”.
Finally, it has put an end to other reasons that also have an impact on the fact that there are no doctors: “It is not that they lack faculties, but that we lack many other things such as hours and a decent salary, having more time per patient, an appropriate infrastructure, and a rescue Primary Care, among others.
“Let’s row together for quality healthcare, for all of us. For the future of medicine”, the CEEM has concluded.
CARLOS PINA
Isabel Diaz Ayuso