MIR positions have increased in recent years at a faster rate than the number of students in Medicine in each course. With the most recent data from the Ministry of Universities, referring to the 2020-2021 academic year, it is observed that compared to the 7,989 MIR places called for that year, only 6,718 students graduated, which means 1,271 more places than students who took the course. Places related to the 2022 academic year will not be available until the end of April.
In recent years, there is still a significant difference. Although the number of graduates reported has grown in recent years, 6,600 graduates in 2019-2020 or 6,574 in 2018-2019, the rate of graduates is not comparable to the number of MIR positions that are provided each year by health and this does not stop growing. This great growth led to the restoration of the situation of “vacancies” in the 2022 MIR (93 non-deficient places), which could be repeated this year. In 2023 a new increase in the number of places, 8,550, compared to 8, 1888 in 2022, this, with the addition of more graduates, there were 60 places remaining, according to initial estimates, this year.
In addition, if we look at the MIR positions, we see that in recent years there are even more positions than graduates, with a difference of 1,015 more positions than graduates in 2020, and 223 in 2019. Since 2020, 7,615 were offered. MIR places and in 2019 there were 6,797. However, in 2018 where there were more places than recent graduates, there were 6,513, 173 more.
If the academic year 2021-2022 is taken and compared with that of 2017-2018, MIR places have increased by more than 25 percent in just five years. Bringing this information closer to the present, if we look at the number of MIR 2023 vacancies, 8,550, we compare it with previous years, we see that they have increased by almost 40 percent since seven years ago.
Regarding those who are enrolled in Medicine each year, the latest data recorded by the Ministry shows that for the 2021-2022 academic year, 43,126 students were enrolled. Although the number has increased in recent years, it is happening at a slower rate. For the 2020-2021 academic year there were 42,907 new students, 42,529 in 2019-2020, 42,513 in 2018-2019 or 42,270 for 2017-2018. With this, in the last five years there has been an increase in enrollment of 0.86 percent.
More places in medicine or “consultation” work
The government considers that the increase in places in medical universities can alleviate the difference that eventually becomes when they graduate, much less than those who start their studies every year. In the last General Budget they proposed to increase the number of medical students up to 15 percent. This means an increase in medicine by 1,000 places in the universities, and an additional 50 million for the material.
On the other hand, from the Popular Party, the President sent a proposal that would happen in the event of the election of the President of the Government. Feijóo stated that “with the exception of some years” he obtains the same places in the MIR exam as the same number of graduates who leave Spanish medical schools every year. “We will not do it until the problem of the shortage of teachers is solved,” he proposed.
However, many faculties, deans and students do not share these decisions. The Forum of the Medical Profession has already addressed the “problem” at the beginning of the month and they claim that it is not a problem of lack of doctors, but of certain specialties. For this reason, they see the need for “a kind of human resources plan and compliance with the current regulations regarding the approval of non-EU titles for those who practice it on SNS”.
For this, the Medical Union Study Center of Granada stated in a recent report on the profile of the doctor who holds the position of MIR, asserting the number of retirements after a decade or twelve: “it will be half. or a little more, about 4,500 per year, and they will complete their training if calls like the last will continue, close to 8000 specialized doctors trained in our universities, and the time may come when it will be difficult for them to find places to work in Spain, these are the future doctors who are now starting in the study faculties’, the report concludes.
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