The Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPap) has been alerting for some time the lack of pediatricians in health centers. This decline in professionals, which could become even more noticeable in the coming years, could have a direct impact on the attention our children receive.
That is why, together with the Spanish Society of Outpatient Pediatrics and Primary Care (SEPEAP), they have launched a campaign to collect signatures with which they intend to raise awareness of both Health and the families of this serious situation.
Why are pediatricians missing in health centers?
According to the AEPap the reasons why the figure of the pediatrician is disappearing in some health centers is mainly due to budget cuts, which are producing very unattractive working conditions.
This makes the students of the MIR who opt for the specialty of pediatrics end up preferring to work in hospitals, emergencies or private consultations.
Only 24% of pediatricians who finish their residency decide to practice their profession in the health center, opting for those in the cities and for tomorrow's shift.This leads to 30% of the pediatric positions of the health centers of our country are not occupied by pediatricians, so that from the AEPap they consider it essential to encourage in some way these places of difficult coverage.
To all this we must add, in addition, that for a decade MIR pediatric squares have remained frozen in an average of 417, so it is not possible to replace this problem with the offer of new places.
Mass queries
As we have commented above, the AEPap considers that the Administration dedicates few budgets and resources to primary care. This fact, in addition to affecting the low working conditions of pediatricians, also has an impact on the mass of consultations.
Not in vain, and according to the latest data collected by the Ministry of Health in 2015, in our country the average number of children awarded by pediatrician is 1,031, well above the recommended optimal figure that would be between 800 and 900 patients.
As a solution to this problem, the AEPap considers that more MIR seats should be called, also taking into account that in some autonomous communities the average age of pediatricians is very high and this will cause a significant percentage of pensions to be planned within a few years.
The importance of the figure of the primary care pediatrician
It certainly seems that we are facing a serious situation that we all must tackle because the only harmed end up being children.
The work done by a primary care pediatrician is fundamental, not only because it treats and helps prevent health problems of the child from birth to almost his adolescence, but because his role has been gaining more and more ground to become a key figure in really complex situations.
We saw it a few days ago: primary care pediatricians become essential when it comes to detecting psychological problems in children, child abuse or / and sexual abuse, bullying, and even high capacities or giftedness.
Therefore, I believe that it is essential to sign the AEPap petition, in order to try to solve this problem, improve their working conditions and provide them with all the tools they need to fulfill their function.
Both my children and I adore our pediatrician at the health center, we fully trust her and we appreciate her enormous dedication, sensitivity and excellent treatment. And like her, surely there are thousands and thousands of pediatricians alike, whom we must protect. Because, after all, we cannot forget that they are the ones who are taking care of our children when we need them most.
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Via El Confidencial, With Health
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