Four-Day Doctors' Strike Paralyzes Spain's Healthcare System: What Patients Need to Know

Photo: Crowd of doctors in white coats with signs on the streets of Madrid. Source: El País

Madrid/Barcelona, December 10, 2025 — Spain is facing a serious healthcare crisis: over 100,000 doctors across the country have begun a four-day strike lasting until December 12. This is already the third protest action of 2025, organized by the medical unions CESM (Spanish Confederation of Medical Unions) and SMA (Andalusian Medical Association). The cause is the firm rejection of the Ministry of Health’s proposed "Estatuto Marco," a unified statute for all healthcare staff. Doctors insist on a separate law that acknowledges their unique workload, responsibility, and life-saving contributions.

Key Demands of the Protesters

Unions describe current working conditions as "slavery": excessive shifts (up to 24 hours), lack of overtime pay for night shifts, job instability, and burnout. The Ministry has offered a compromise—reducing shifts to 17 hours, limiting the number of shifts, and introducing mandatory rest after night duties. However, CESM and SMA consider this "insufficient" and demand:

• Salary increases of 20–30% to compensate for inflation and risks.
• Job stability—a ban on temporary contracts for specialists.
• Dialogue with authorities, including high-pressure regions like Catalonia, Andalusia, and Madrid.

"We cannot continue working under conditions that destroy our profession. A patient treated by a burned-out doctor is at risk of losing their life," said a CESM representative in a statement to El País.

The strike coincides with the winter flu wave and rising respiratory infections, further straining the system. Doctors warn that without changes, further actions will follow, including an indefinite strike in January 2026.

How Does This Affect Patients?

Good news: critical services will remain operational. Thanks to legally guaranteed "minimum services" (servicios mínimos), the following will continue:

• Emergency care (urgencias).
• Intensive care (ICU), oncology, chemotherapy, radiotherapy.
• Surgery and childbirth in emergency cases.

Bad news affects planned services:

• Appointments with GPs and specialists at health centers (centros de salud) are canceled or rescheduled.
• Diagnostics (blood tests, ultrasounds, MRIs) and non-urgent surgeries are delayed by weeks.
• In regions like the Balearic Islands and Valencia, expats and tourists may face delays accessing public healthcare.

In Madrid, the strike has already led to thousands of canceled appointments; in Barcelona, private clinics are experiencing long queues. Patients are advised to:

• Check schedules in advance via the SNS portal (sanidad.gob.es) or by phone.
• Stock up on prescriptions and medications.
• Seek private clinics for non-emergencies (if insured).

Street Protests: Resolve at Its Peak

There is massive mobilization on the streets. In Madrid, a march from Congress to the Ministry of Health drew thousands in white coats holding signs reading "Doctors Are Not Slaves!" and "Fair Pay for Saving Lives." In Barcelona, protests began at the University of Barcelona’s medical school and proceeded to the Catalan health department. Similar actions are taking place in Seville, Valencia, Malaga, and the Canary Islands. Participants are resolute: "If they don’t listen, January will be hot," SMA leaders promise.

Health Minister Mónica García has called for dialogue, but unions accuse her of "ignoring" them despite over 60 meetings. Experts predict the conflict could drag on, accelerating the exodus of doctors to the private sector or abroad.

What’s Next?

This strike is a wake-up call for all of Europe: Spain’s healthcare system, one of the best in the EU, is cracking under bureaucracy and underfunding. Patients and medical professionals await a compromise, but for now, Spain’s streets are filled with white coats.

Sources: El País, El Mundo, Euro Weekly News, CESM posts on X.

Learn more about the strike at cesm.org
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