Galicia health officials urged to restore ambulance service and halt non‑specialist doctor hires

Socialist Party secretary general José Ramón Gómez Besteiro demanded that the Xunta of Galicia immediately reinstate a permanent medicalised ambulance at the Hospital Público do Salnés in Vilagarcía, after the vehicle was moved to Sanxenxo for the summer season. Besteiro argued that a year‑round service is essential, citing a recent death that occurred when the ambulance could not reach a patient in time, and called for two ambulances to cover the district.

At the same time, the regional health authority (Sergas) has been hiring doctors without the required MIR specialty to fill Family and Community Medicine posts in the Points of Continuous Attention (PAC) in the Vigo area. The CIG‑Saúde union says the practice undermines specialist training, threatens patient safety and devalues the profession, and has asked the health management to reverse the hires. The Ministry of Health is preparing legislation to end the use of non‑specialist doctors, a practice already adopted by many Spanish autonomous communities.