Health Professional Unions Warn Against Staffing Restrictions in Public Health, Fear Impact on Private Clinics

The Federation of Fesprosap expressed grave concerns over measures limiting personnel replacement in the public health sector and warned that applying these criteria to private health care could worsen workload stress, impact the timeliness of care, and jeopardize patient safety.

The Citizen

19/03/2026 4:52pm

Original article: Sindicatos de profesionales de la salud privada alertan por restricciones a reemplazos en salud y advierten riesgo de réplica en clínicas privadas

The board of the Federation of Health Professionals Unions (Fesprosap) has raised alarms regarding new measures that limit personnel replacement in the public health sector. They warn that such decisions increase workload stress, exacerbate staffing shortages, undermine timely care, and threaten patient safety.

The organization also expressed solidarity with public sector workers and issued a warning about the potential replication of these practices in private clinics and healthcare centers, which are already facing similar staffing pressures and shortages.

«Health cannot continue to rely on the exhaustion of its workers. When absent staff or those leaving the system are not replaced, the burden of the crisis is shifted entirely to health teams and, ultimately, to the patients themselves,» emphasized Evelyn Muñoz, president of Fesprosap.

Muñoz further expressed deep concern that such measures applied in the public sector could send a signal to the private sector as well. «This would only worsen job precarity and deteriorate the conditions under which health care is provided, affecting timeliness of care and compromising patient safety,» she stated.

Given these concerns, Fesprosap has called on authorities and employers to ensure the careful replenishment of staff, uphold dignified working conditions, and guarantee timely and safe care for the population.