On Friday, the Regional Minister for Health, Esther Monzón, urged doctors who have begun an indefinite strike to accept the «good offer» that has been made to them, which they can accept without affecting patient care, as she warned that once the 2026 accounts have been finalised, it will be difficult to take up the offer.
The financial demands set out in this professional group’s list of demands amount to around 150 million euros, but the offer from the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS) amounts to around 50 million, a figure which the regional government is keeping on the table with no possibility of increasing it, so as not to divert resources from other areas related to patient care, the regional minister has emphasised.
After emphasising that the Department of Health «does not fully understand» why this indefinite strike has been called in the context of «negotiations in which 14 measures have been put on the table relating to the remuneration of all staff, including salary supplements, career progression and on-call pay, which is also set to rise by approximately 47 per cent».
Canary Islands: Doctors' union cuts on-call duties to 17 hours
Before taking part in the World Mental Health Day events, the regional minister emphasised that, in these negotiations, her department is not only offering the strikers «a pay rise, but also a reduction in on-call hours, from 24-hour shifts to 17-hour shifts», which are also «paid at almost double the current rate».
«We do not fully understand this stance taken by the doctors‘ union and the strike committee, because we are open to negotiation; we remain open to negotiation. We are about to present the budget to Parliament and, therefore, they have the opportunity to take advantage of these 14 measures, which will undoubtedly benefit not only doctors, but all SCS staff and also junior doctors, because we believe this is a good offer we can make them: an increase of around 40 or 50 million», she asserted.
Monzón has emphasised that the SCS «cannot cut funding from other budget lines directly related to patient care, their medicines or the equipment provided for them».
Doctors' strike: Disagreements over pay and rest periods remain
When asked about the stumbling blocks in these negotiations and the differences that most divide the parties, the minister said that «the greatest divergence relates to further demands regarding financial terms and rest periods», the latter of which she assured had been addressed in the offer put forward by the SCS.
«As things stand, financially speaking, we can only go so far. Reality prevails, and I believe this is a good agreement for now; we will continue to work over the coming years to further improve conditions, but I think they should accept the one we have on the table, because if they do not do so before we finalise the budget, there will be no scope» to address the doctors‘ demands, she warned.
Health service increases its budget by one billion euros
Esther Monzón has emphasised that this is «a hugely significant effort» being made to address the demands of the medical profession, and she pointed out that, over the past three years of this parliamentary term, the SCS «has increased the budget by one billion euros and will continue to do so».
«I think this year we will be approaching 5,000 million euros, which accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the autonomous community’s budget, and we need to strike a balance between what is allocated to patients and what is allocated to staff,» she said.
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