No Covid-19 bonus for Doctors

"We are still in crisis, I wish it had ended but there are still infections and we are planning ways to recover activity," said the Director of Management and Budgets of IB-Salut, Manuel Palomino.

The Balearic Medical Union, Simebal has warned that there could be strike action in the Autumn if the Balearic Administration does not compensate Medical Staff for the extreme pressure they were under during the coronavirus pandemic, at times working without PPE materials.

IB-Salut is adamant that this is not the time to negotiate a productivity bonus.

"Presenting this situation now is complicated despite the fact that we recognise the effort. It is fundamentally a health crisis and most of the work been done by Health Professionals,” admits Palomino, “but we are still planning ways to recover healthcare activity and foresee some regrowth, we are watching how it’s working in the rest of the country and within Health Management and we are still in full activity," he argued.

Manuel Palomino also pointed out that Salut hopes to have “a better perspective of what has happened, is happening and will happen" to put present claims that complement what other Communities have already made. "I wish there was a vaccine to end all of this, but it's not like that, we would like to have a global vision in the end," he said.

“Meetings are held with the Unions every week and we are permanently negotiating," added Palomino, who recalled that at Easter staff were paid double and that all the contracts had been extended because of the Covid-19 crisis.

"Now we are in a phase of containment and rapid control and that also means a disposition of means, we have not returned to the pre-pandemic staff, we have 450 more professionals than before, but the situation is not over, we are just in another phase of Healthcare,” he insisted.

The Health Service highlighted the efforts of the workers and how much the pandemic had cost their families, which irritated Simebal Representatives who said less talk and more action is what’s needed now.

The Balearic Islands are one of the few Autonomous Communities that has not agreed to Covid-19 compensate or a 2% pay rise.