The opposition denounces that Osakidetza’s new OPE “does not dispel doubts or suspicions”

The opposition groups have joined this Thursday in the Basque Parliament to the criticisms of the unions to the model of the new OPE called by Osakidetza, on which they have warned that it does not dispel the “doubts and suspicions” that were raised around the previous call, which is being the subject of a judicial investigation for possible leaks. For their part, the PNV and the PSE-EE have accused the rest of the parties of “using this issue politically” and have defended the announced OPE model.

The debate around this new selective process of Osakidetza, approved last Thursday with the opposition of the unions, has reached the plenary session of the Autonomous Chamber in the hands of EH Bildu, a formation that has agreed on a transaction amendment with Elkarrekin Podemos-IU.

The amendment, which has been rejected, denounced that the fact that in the new OPE it will be the courts of the medical categories themselves that decide who and how the examinations will be prepared, which, in their opinion, supposes “a step backwards in the search for transparency “in these processes.

For this reason, they urged the Department of Health to reformulate the model of examination and access to Osakidetza, in order to ensure “an impartial selection that guarantees equal opportunities, maximum transparency and traceability of the process to give maximum guarantees to opponents “, so that” what happened is not repeated “in the 2016-2017 OPE.

Instead of this proposal, has approved an amendment of the groups that support the Basque Government (PNV and PSE-EE), which have an absolute majority in the Chamber. The text has gone ahead with the vote against EH Bildu and the abstention of Elkarrekin Podemos-IU, PP + Cs and Vox.

In this amendment it is requested that in the selection processes of the OPE 2018-2019 of Osakidetza, as well as in future calls, “compliance with the principles of equality, merit and capacity, as well as those of transparency, objectivity and reliability be guaranteed. “.

Groups opinions

During the debate, the parliamentarian from Eh Bildu, Rebeka Ubera, has denounced that the way of acting of the Department of Health and Osakidetza questions the commitment of the Basque Government to correct the “irregularities” detected in the previous call. He recalled that it is yet to be determined whether the previous OPE “violated the legality”, but has warned that Parliament’s “obligation” is to try to ensure that what happened “does not happen again”, something that he considers is not guaranteed in the new call.

The parliamentarian of Together We Can-IU, Jon Hernández, has denounced that the new OPE called by Osakidetza “maintains the fundamentals of the previous model, including those aspects of the call that” the Prosecutor’s Office itself said was where the suspicions of leaks could be based. “Something that, in his opinion shows the “lack of will” of the Basque Government to “correct doubts and suspicions” about possible leaks and irregularities.

The parliamentarian of PP+Cs, Laura Garrido, has affirmed that after the “black chapter” that the selection process of the Basque Health Service-Osakidetza represented in the previous legislature, the Basque Government has “the added responsibility” of “not sowing any type of doubt” in the future OPE, and has demanded that the new OPE establish “guarantees of transparency and impartiality.”

The parties that support the Government, PNV and PSE-EE, have defended the new model. The jeltzale MP, Kerman Orbegozo, has accused the opposition of continuing to “use politically” this issue, as well as of “spreading suspicion” and questioning the “professionalism” of Osakidetza professionals.

From the socialist ranks, Ekain Rico has recognized that the “desirable” would have been to have had the support of the unions but recalled that if it was not convened before December 31, “the possibility of convening the 3,000 would be lost forever”. plazas. As he has defended, the conditions of this OPE conform to the model approved in 2019 by Osakidetza, which contained mechanisms to prevent a repeat of what happened in the previous opposition.