From 3,000 to 2,400 euros per month. What is the basic salary of a doctor in public health in Spain? Depending on the autonomous community in which a doctor practices his profession, the economic rewards will vary, moderately Murcia, the place with the highest salaries, 3,081 euros net per month base salary, and Catalonia the lowest paying region, 2,393 euros net monthly base salary.

Inside it The regional podiums where professionals receive the most money are also the Basque Country and La Rioja, for 2,997 euros and 2,819 euros, respectively. Behind them are the Balearic Islands and Aragon, bordering 2,800 euros net per month, according to a report on fixed remuneration for temporary doctors in 2022, prepared by the Andalusian Medical Union. The measure studies only regular doctors, does not take into account increases due to seniority, guards, and assumes exclusive dedication to treatment.

Between the five that pay the least for their doctors are Andalusia, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha, and Cataloniawith salaries ranging between 2,600 euros net per month and 2,400 euros per month.

Inequality between remuneration occurs when an uprising in public health, which began in 2022, a series of protests and strikes in a dozen communities. They demand better working conditions, beset by primary care burnout and insecurity.

The difference in base salaries in Murcia and Catalonia amounts to almost 700 euros net per month

In the last decade, many communities have chosen to increase the salaries of their professionals, Murcia being the one that raised the most, 8.9% compared to 2009. Followed, with separate increases of 7.72%, by the Basque Country and the Community of Valencia. , while Asturias is the fourth community that has increased its toilet remuneration in the last decade, 6.49%.

On the other hand, The three communities that saw their wages increase the least are Catalonia, Extremadura, the Canary Islands and Navarra. In the Catalan community, salaries have increased by 4.28% since 2009, while in Extremadura and the Canary Islands they have increased by 4.15% and 2.07%, respectively. Navarra is the only state to have lowered medical wages since 2009with a decrease of 1.62%.

However, to all these values ​​it is necessary to add a premium for seniority to workers. “Every three years the doctor’s salary is increased by 47 euros net per month, through the so-called three-year modular agreement for seniority,” explains Dr. Vicente Matas, director of the Center for Studies of the Andalusian Medical Association, to PlantaDoce.

Too, each autonomous community assesses the remuneration of its guards differently, with Murcia paying the most money for working on weekdays, 16.37 euros, and the Canary Islands, which pay the most for working on holidays, 18.31 euros. In contrast, the Canary Islands are the community that pays the least for labor guards, 11.84 euros, and Extremadura is the community that pays the least for party guards, 13.11 euros.

Looking abroad, medical wages in Spain are following in the footsteps of developed economies. Report Remuneration of Physicians in the European Union, Spain and the Autonomous Community, prepared by the Gaspar Casal Foundation in 2021, it was revealed Spain is below the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in terms of remuneration medicalless than half in England or France.

Low professional remuneration compared to other countries has made the emigration of doctors abroad since the 2008 crisis one of the biggest problems in Spanish healthcare, which in the last five years has seen 11,000 doctors go abroad. The favorite destinations of emigrants are France, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland and Germany and most of the doctors who emigrated were under 36 years old (43.5%).

In 2021, the community that has abandoned doctors the most is Catalonia, with a total of 1,163 doctors (28% of the total), of which 988 doctors were from Barcelona, ​​\u200b\u200b72 from Girona, 55 from Lleida and 48 from Tarragona. It was followed by the Community of Madrid, with a total of 749 doctors emigrating, 18% of the Spanish total, according to a certificate of fitness to work abroad issued by the Ministry of Health.

But disparities in remuneration criteria also increase migration between communitiesespecially in border areas where salaries of their doctors are very different, as happened between Murcia and Andalusia or Aragon and Catalonia.

“Although the Ministry of Health does not collect official data on mobility between people and we do not know the true scope of the problem, this situation causes the portfolio of services to differ from place to place,” said Vicente Matas. “Just as judges and prosecutors demand the same everywhere, the national health system must offer equal conditions so that there are no first-class and second-class people,” added Matas.