The Health Department and the Medical Strike Committee have resumed negotiations this Friday, after the last meeting took place on May 8. Ángela Hernández describes the meeting as "very positive".
The Health Department of the Community of Madrid and the Committee of the Medical and Faculty Strike have sat down again this Friday at the negotiation table. The meeting, which took place at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Human Resources of Sermas, marks the first official meeting since May 8. During those months, the negotiation process had been completely blocked, and the Administration even cancelled an appointment just hours before it was due to take place.
A recovered dialogue climate
The general secretary of Amyts, Ángela Hernández, has described the meeting as "very positive" and emphasised that the most important thing is having recovered dialogue. In statements after the meeting, Hernández noted that "we left the meeting with the General Directorate of Human Resources believing that it is very positive that meetings have resumed with the Autonomous Community of Madrid's Medical and Faculty Strike Committee".
"They have presented us with a set of proposals that they will send us in writing. We believe that we are still very far apart, but we will wait to receive them and will assess them"
The Strike Committee, made up of representatives from Amyts, AME, MUD, and SIME-CSIT UP, has particularly valued the commitment made by the Administration to establish a schedule of regular meetings. "What we see as very positive is the climate of dialogue and the commitment to establish a schedule of meetings to try to improve and bring the positions of both parties closer together," Hernández added.
Written proposals and still distant positions
Despite the optimistic tone, the Strike Committee acknowledges that the positions remain "very far apart". The General Directorate of Human Resources of Sermas presented a set of proposals during the meeting that it has committed to send in writing in the coming days. The representatives of the doctors will wait to receive that document to analyse it in depth and assess whether there are real advances.
The resumption of negotiations comes after the Strike Committee publicly requested the intervention of regional president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, to unblock a process that had been stalled. The doctors and health professionals in Madrid hope that the upcoming meetings will allow for closer positions and progress in their demands, which include improvements in working conditions, patient-to-doctor ratios, and remuneration.
For the residents of the Community of Madrid, the resumption of dialogue is good news, as a potential prolonged strike would affect healthcare in the region's hospitals and health centres. For now, the Strike Committee has again submitted its maximum demands document to the Department, outlining the main pending requests.
The next step will be the analysis of the written proposals that the Administration sends. If both parties manage to bring their positions closer, a new strike call that would affect the more than 30,000 doctors and health professionals in Madrid's public healthcare could be avoided.
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