Moment in which Celso Arango (left) and Victor Pérez Sola (right) announce the merger of the SEP and the SEPB in the Sepsm.
Recently, the Ministry of Health, through its general director of Training and Professional Planning of the Ministry of Health, Vicenç Martínez Ibáñez, urged scientific societies to change your work model and that there was only one only medical organization by specialty in order to facilitate joint work. An idea that last November shaped by own initiative the two societies of the specialty of Psychiatryand which, according to its leaders, is a “clear” example to follow.
The Spanish Society of Psychiatry (SEP) and the Spanish Society of Biological Psychiatry (SEPB) thus put an end to a coexistence of more than 20 years and whose The merger has been widely supported by the partners of both organizations. “90 percent of the partners said yes. It is common sense that there is only one society. It is not necessary that there be one for each specialist. We are very proud to have done it before Health said so, ”he says. Victor Perez Alonepresident of SEPB and future president of the new organization for the second and third quarters of the year.
In the same sense, it is shown Celso Arango, President of SEP and current leader during the transition of both boards to a single one under the name of the Spanish Society of Psychiatry and Mental Health (Sepsm): “Science there is only one. At the moment the egos can more than science It is the moment in which several scientific disciplines arise on the same subject or specialty. For serious managementIt’s much better an authorized voice than ten small voices and each one fighting for their own”.
A single voice facilitates dialogue with the Administration
Arango understands that within a specialty there are several approaches, aspects or priorities, but he believes that they can be dealt with within the same scientific society. “A good example that you can work with different sensitivities are the royal college english In the end, if you work from two different places that are parallel and do not interact with each other, see two different societies, nconsensus will never be reached no agreements and the work is duplicated. this is absolutely poor for cost-effectiveness,” details the psychiatrist.
An ease in dialogue with the Administration that Pérez Sola also highlights: “For professionals and society it is much easier. The union of companies It is something essential that must be undertaken. There can’t be 30 societies for each specific issue.”
A method of acting that is already practiced in Europe. “In any matter that we have to deal with the European Union They always tell us that only one voice. An example is the European Council of the Brain, where we have joined Neurology, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Neurosurgery, and Neurophysiology to have the only voice that advises the European Commission on issues related to the brain”, details the president of Sepsm, who claims that a single final channel with the interlocutor is a very efficient way to deal with the Administration.
What is the main problem in the merger of companies of the same specialty?
The need to unify is something that both leaders were clear regarding, but that has not exempted the process from being difficult. “We have merged the two committees. It is something that we were clear regarding, but it is difficult to do it because the professionals who won their position in an election must give it up. This must be done for the common good, but is what most limits mergers”explains Pérez Sola.
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“That there are two societies only serves the ego of the person who presides over them” |
A difficulty that Arango also highlights, for whom the main stumbling block is egos. “It is a question of personalism, there are not two diabetes, neither cardiology nor psychiatry. That there are two societies only serves the ego of the person who presides over them, and the complicated thing is that they resign from these positions. The members of these societies will have their reasons, but these are away from the science and the discipline they defend”claims the psychiatrist.
Can Health influence the merger of scientific societies?
Another of the issues that both leaders have seen following undertaking the merger is that the role of Health to push the rest of the companies might be more active. “I have no doubt that Health might do more, there should be some mandate that would facilitate these mergers. The Administration should not allow there to be a dialogue with all of them because that is making it easier for more to be created,” Pérez Sola denounces.
A feeling that Arango shares, who does not see much travel from the legal point of view, but from other ways. “Health does have a way of pushing it. For example, tell the societies of a specialty to come to an agreement because in the specialty commission there can only be one interlocutor. They cannot prevent their formation, but they can facilitate and show that it is more cost-efficient to have only one company”
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