Balearic Islands will require Catalan for 80% of healthcare workers

After weeks of controversy, the Government has reached an agreement for the Balearic Islands to require the requirement of Catalan in 80% of the positions offered in the stabilization process for doctors and nurses

In 2018, the Government approved a decree giving healthcare workers two years to acquire basic knowledge of Catalan. The union CSIF challenged the decree, considering it violated equal access to public employment. Eventually, both the Balearic Islands Higher Court and the Supreme Court annulled the government’s decree and Catalan was no longer required.

The Government launched the stabilization process for these medical and nursing positions without this requirement, stating that a high percentage of these positions were to cover positions with a chronic and pressing shortage of staff.

The IBSalut has analyzed the 6,000 applications submitted by nursing and medical professionals and has confirmed that in most categories there were sufficient applicants with the required knowledge of Catalan. In fact, the list of categories with a shortage of staff has been reviewed and reduced from 50 specialties to 15. In these staff-deficient categories, knowledge of the language will not be required. The Government assures that the staff will have the obligation to know both official languages, which will be guaranteed through language accompaniment.

Those who access the remaining non-deficient positions will have two years to demonstrate that they have the required Catalan certification for their position. This is how it is done in stabilization processes that do not affect doctors and nurses.