The commitment to the use of Catalan in health institutions
The Minister of Health, Manel Balcells, has expressed his determination to ensure that health centers promote the use of Catalan. In an interview with Diari Ara, Balcells has announced that centers that do not comply with this instruction will be subject to financial penalties. In addition, he stressed the importance of health professionals complying with the language requirements, ensuring that CatSalut will issue a specific instruction for all centers next week.
Promotion of language training
The councilor recalled the program of Catalan courses aimed at 4,000 professionals promoted by the Government a few months ago. The aim of these courses is for professionals to accredit level B2 or C1 to attend to patients in the language they prefer. Balcells has insisted on the obligation of the centers to provide training and sufficient time so that hired professionals who do not have the appropriate language level can learn the language.
Supervision and support
To guarantee compliance with the use of Catalan in health centers, a reference will be appointed in each hospital. This person will supervise the training of professionals and analyze the social and corporate use of the language. Balcells has emphasized that these references will be a kind of promoters of Catalan, offering support and accompaniment to professionals in the language learning process.
Incentives and volunteering
The Government also seeks to encourage voluntary participation in language pairs in health centers. In addition, a study will be carried out to quantify how many healthcare professionals do not speak Catalan, with the aim of better understanding the reality of each healthcare centre.
