15 years of struggle for medicine in Burgos

The absence of a medical faculty in the province results in a loss of talent and medical professionals, which UBU and the University Medical Organization of Castile and Leon confirm in various studies after 15 years of unsuccessful demands to the Council for the implementation of this degree. in the capital. The campus estimates that the number of young people who go to other provinces to continue their studies is fifty, and in the field of health it has been proven that in Leon and Burgos, where there is no opportunity to study as a doctor, there are 100 doctors for every 100,000 inhabitants less than in Salamanca and Valladolid, where such a degree has been offered for decades.

This is explained by the President of the College of Physicians of Burgos, Joaquín Fernández de Valderrama, citing data from a demographic study of the profession in Castile and León, which will be published in the first quarter of 2024. “The number of doctors in Salamanca and Valladolid for every 100 thousand inhabitants is just over 500, and in Burgos and Leon – 400, that is, 100 less. This suggests that it is logically easier to retain professionals where there is authority.”

It should be taken into account that one of the main problems facing the Burgos health system is the shortage of specialists, especially in primary care and in some basic hospital services such as anesthesiology and intensive care.

UBU has required this degree for 15 years not only to expand its academic offerings, but because it demonstrates through technical and economic research that it has the ability to launch it and maintain it over time, in addition to a large experience in a health-related career (nursing, occupational therapy, medical engineering…). This approach is viable if we propose a center with 72 places and 61 teachers (which would combine the 298 that already exist in specialized faculties).

Regarding the implementation budget, the academic institution has already clarified with the Ministry of Education that it will be about 7 million. Added to this is the availability of teaching positions from scratch, which are in such high demand. There are young people who even go abroad to study medicine due to the inability to get a place in a public university.

The council hides the cost and, as rector Manuel Pérez Mateos explained, increases it to 25 million. “At this stage, the support of political parties is essential, especially those in charge of the government in Castile and León (PP and Vox), and social agents,” he said.

back. The socio-economic structure of the city had already expressed unanimity in 2008, when it demanded the opening of a medical faculty in Burgos, a demand that has acquired consistency in the fifteen years since then, and even more so after the pandemic, which confirmed the shortage of personnel in the medical personnel of the province.

(More information can be found in the Sunday print edition of Diario de Burgos)