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Each year, more than 15,000 doctors take the exam Specialized health training (ESF) to get a specialist position in an area of Medicine. A routine process, once the Faculty is over, for which the doctor’s degree must be presented written in Spanish and not in any of the other co-official languages of Spain.
This has been confirmed by the same Ministry of Health to the Republican Left parliamentary group after a question registered in Congress. In it, the Catalan deputies accused the Ministry of creating an “administrative problem” for those students who, after studying in Catalonia, had presented their degree in Catalan.
“They have been forced to redo all the procedures,” they pointed out from ERC, accusing the Ministry of not accepting a co-official language as “valid” for an administrative procedure.
According to ERC, the problem is that doctors submit their application to take the MIR (resident internal medicine) exam by sending a degree in Catalan which is the language in which their own university issues it.
A document that was immediately rejected by Health, since, in accordance with Law 39/2015, of 1 October, and Royal Decree 1002/2010, of 5 August, only the titles and academic certificates in the co – official languages of the Spanish State “provided that they are presented in a bilingual text “.
When this translation did not appear, and being a document issued only in Catalan, the validity was null. For this reason, and as the ERC deputies, the process had to be repeated.
In its parliamentary response, Sanitat assures that its attitude is the one that must be followed in any procedure of the General State Administration (AGE). They also explain that it is the universities that must issue the degree translated or directly into Spanish. Thus pointing to the Catalan Faculties as those responsible for creating the problem.
Official languages
Likewise, article 18.1 of Royal Decree 1002/2010, of 5 August, on the issuance of official university degrees, determines that official degrees must be issued in Spanish. Therefore, universities based in the autonomous communities with co-official language issue the titles in bilingual text in a single document “written in Spanish and in the other language of the corresponding autonomous community”.
In addition, and to clarify that there is no inconvenience on the part of the Government with the language in which the title is extended at first, they reiterate that “the call for access to ESF places strictly respects the linguistic rights of speakers of official languages of the State other than Spanish “.
“Although it is not expressly established in Royal Decree 1125/2003, of 5 September, which establishes the European credit system and the system of qualifications in the official university degrees and validity throughout the national territory, it must be understood that, like official qualifications, academic certificates must be bilingual text “, They add.
In this way, the necessary administrative procedures outside the territories in which a language has the co-official character must be issued in Spanish. Unless this document is addressed to a body of the General State Administration based in the territory of the Autonomous Community. Here they will also be able to use the language that is co-official.
Language in exams
In this context, L’ESPANYOL has contacted the State Confederation of Medical Students (CEEM) to know their opinion on the matter and whether they had any complaints in this regard.
At a general level, CEEM ensures that universities are aware that public administrations need to carry out procedures in Spanish, so that they do not accommodate issue titles in another language.
Still, and on the linguistic diversity of Spain, CEEM shows its position in favor of any examinee being able to choose, among the co-official languages, the language in which he carries out his examination. A request that they have even transferred to the Government of Spain, which it has rejected, assuring that the MIR exam is conducted in Spanish for both national applicants and for non-EU nationals.