According to the study Supply and Need for Medical Specialists in Spain 2006-2030, carried out at the request of the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs, the current lack of Primary Care pediatricians can become a serious problem as of 2010, which could be extended until 2030.
A previous report by the Spanish Society of Primary Care Outpatient Pediatrics (SEPEAP) and the Spanish Association of Primary Care Pediatrics (AEPAP), "Needs of Primary Care Pediatricians", mentions that there is approximately one Primary Care pediatrician for every 1,134 under 15, when they say that it would be appropriate to have a pediatrician for every thousand children. In global computation, about 720 pediatricians are missing.
According to the president of the AEPAP, the causes that have caused this deficit are, among others, the change in the forecast of aging of the society, the volume of immigration or the increase of international adoptions. Also the increase in diseases that the child population is suffering, such as obesity, eating disorders, chronic diseases such as hyperactivity or asthma and the inappropriate behaviors that our society has acquired, require more pediatric services. There are also causes caused by professionals, who thought that there were enough, now the average of pediatricians have an age between 45-60 years, the previous abundance became lack due to not specializing in something that was going to give little work.
Another issue is the low labor mobility to which they want to submit, and something that horrifies us of the news especially by the group that mentions it, “the feminization of the profession: two out of three new doctors are women and in the specialty In pediatrics, four out of five new pediatricians are at least women. The consequence is that women tend to choose those specialties that are more compatible with family life, avoiding overtime and guards. The planning should take into account that the feminization of medicine will therefore imply a reduction in the overall effective working time. ”Do you agree?
Primary Care pediatricians need a new planning to adapt the number of specialists needed to provide the corresponding health service, there are already suggestions for the Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs to take measures, but we will see how and when they are carried out.
One of them is, as in the case of the lack of obstetricians, to resort to professionals from other countries, with preference for Latin Americans.
We ask ourselves the question again, Are pediatricians missing in Spain?.
