The Government and the autonomous communities have discussed the situation of human resources in Primary Care and a plan to improve infrastructure, to which the Executive will allocate 493 million euros. It was the last Interterritorial Council of the minister Carolina Darias before leaving the position to be a candidate for the mayor of Las Palmas.
The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias (c), the Minister of Health of the Balearic Islands Patricia Gómez (l) and the Secretary of State for Health, Silvia Calzón (d), are attending the Interterritorial Health Council this Friday in Palma. EFE/ Cati Cladera
Darias has presented the funds to “improve the diagnostic capacity” of Primary Care and infrastructure, although the plan is not detailed nor is the money distributed between the different administrations, as the minister explained at the press conference after the Council Interterritorial of the National Health System (CISNS) held in Palma de Mallorca.
The minister, accompanied by the Minister of the Balearic Islands, Patricia Gómez Picard, explained that this Infrastructure plan is included in the Primary Care reinforcement plan and will consist of carrying out works in health centers and clinics as well as improving diagnostic capacity of Primary Care.
“There has never been an investment of this caliber in history,” remarked Darias.
Primary care infrastructure plan
Specifically, the Primary Care Infrastructure Improvement Plan will allow expanding or renovating radiodiagnostic equipment in health centers, improving the treatment of clinical histories so that all diagnostic capacity does not fall to the hospital sector.
In addition to these investments, the Ministry has shared with the autonomous communities the progress of the Human Resources Commission with some ideas to improve the situation of health workers, although it has insisted that the competence to apply these measures will not be the Government’s but of the autonomous communities.
Some of the elements that he has pointed out but which are not specified are that incentives be established for places with difficult coverage and thus end the excessive turnover that exists in depopulated or insular areas such as the Balearic Islands or the Canary Islands.
However, when journalists asked him how to provide incentives, Darias replied that it should be the autonomous communities that do it, because the Ministry’s role is simply to “define the criteria” and propose different ways, such as offering more money, that is calculated when competing for other places or that research is awarded.
Darias has also remarked that the Government has taken important steps to stabilize the staff of health centers and hospitals. “We are carrying out the largest stabilization process in the national health system, with 67,000 places”, he remarked, a stabilization that was – he said – “a country priority”.
Other agreements of the Interterritorial Council
On the other hand, the Interterritorial Council has approved the distribution of 3.5 million euros intended for the continuing training of healthcare professionals.
In addition, the minister has announced the launch of a project for children with rare diseases called “Uniques” which seeks to “avoid the pilgrimage” of parents of children with rare or low-prevalence diseases.
For this reason, 25 hospitals will collaborate to share knowledge and that “the ones who move are the data and not the patients”.
The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, has also announced the creation of the specialty of Emergency Medicine, a historic claim by health workers, which will be the first of other new specialties to be created soon.
Next substitution of Darias
The Minister of Health has chaired for the last time an Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS) after having chaired a total of 75 meetings, most of them focused on the pandemic, and before focusing on the electoral campaign in the Las Palmas de Gran Canaria mayor’s office before the municipal and regional elections on May 28.
Regarding who will take over, to questions from journalists, Darias answered with a “passaparaula” and referred to the words of Sánchez, who already announced that it will be known after the motion of censure presented by VOX and that debate in Congress next week.
Carolina Darias arrived at the Ministry of Health on January 27, 2021, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, replacing Salvador Illa.