The Spanish Society of Medical Radiology (SERAM) has called for a doubling of the number of places available for resident medical interns in diagnostic radiology to meet growing imaging needs.
In a report published in Redaccionmedica.com on 7 September, Dr. Luis Concepción, head of Professional Affairs at SERAM, noted that radiology departments in the country are facing staff shortages of more 10% and have great difficulty meeting patient demand.
He noted that despite this, the Ministry of Health has not managed to resolve this problem after it carried out the distribution of MIR places for 2023 with a 5.5% increase on the places allocated in 2022.
In the report, Concepción stated that this 5.5% increase in vacancies does not correspond to the increase in demand for radiology. Conversely, some hospitals have difficulty offering vacancies because they do not have enough radiologists in their hospitals to be able to maintain the teaching, he noted. He added that while many hospitals have not been able to fill all their vacancies, some have to saturate their doctors on duty with shifts.
Even though hospitals are trying to expand their teaching capacity due to surging demand for services, the next few years will see huge waves of retirement and it will not be possible to balance generational replacement or meet service demand, he added.
