Tomorrow, January 11, 2022, they will be held in Valencia elections to your Illustrious College of Physicians. Only two lists are presented. That of the current board of directors, headed by Dr. Mercedes hurtado, and of Real Doctors, at whose head is the doctor Ana Arbaizar. All this may seem something endemic to Valencian medicine, that little or nothing can matter to the rest of the country. But it is not, because among the veterans of this school there are people who are clearly defenders of the pseudosciences.
This peculiarity, for which today the Valencia Medical College is the only one in Spain that has among its ranks a defender and practitioner of pseudosciences, generates a great stir among the associations dedicated to bringing to light the problems derived from the use of this type of techniques in medicine.
These elections, therefore, have become a key issue in this war between advocates of the alternative medicine and those of the evidence-based medicine. If the situation of the last two legislatures is maintained, they will continue to be a unique college for reasons that do not make many Valencian doctors proud. But what else do we know about both candidacies?
The legislature that would perpetuate the pseudosciences
The candidate who is presented to revalidate the position of president is Dr. Mercedes hurtado, ophthalmologist at Hospital la Fe, Valencia. Next to her, opting for the position of sixth counselor, is the doctor Rafael Torres placeholder image, who in the application page he presents himself as a doctor in free exercise. But what does this mean?
If we look at their website, we will see that in his medical center Dr. Torres presents himself as a doctor naturist and offers services such as ozone therapy, homeopathy or acupuncture. All of them are pseudosciences, with no scientific evidence to back them up. Most doctors reject your application. However, the list of which Torres is a part is presented to what would be his third term in the College of Physicians of Valencia. They would therefore be 12 years during which pseudosciences occupy a position of honor in a College of Medicine.
The other option of the College of Physicians of Valencia
Opposing Dr. Hurtado’s proposal is that of Dr. Arbaizar, whose group calling itself Real Doctors. His name should not be confused with that of Doctors for the Truth, the association of representatives of medicine with clear anti-vaccine tendencies and deniers.
In this case, the doctors that compose it bet on the opposite. His proposal is to defend real medicine. That what moves away from pseudosciences and it is supported only by scientific evidence. And they do it with an eye on, first of all, the defense of Valencian patients themselves. “This is a much more serious issue than it seems because, in addition to a clear example of professional intrusion, it is worrying that any patient can go to a homeopathy clinic cheated for the endorsement that their treatments may have from a College of Physicians ”, says Dr. Arbaizar in conversation with Hypertextual.
It is for this reason that the candidate considers that pseudosciences should be outside the board of the College. But this is not the only issue on which they focus their program. In fact, it pivots on seven points: the defense of the figure of the doctor and his social prestige, the culture of good governance, the professional activity of the doctor in private practice, training, generation and dissemination of knowledge, increasing the added value of legal services, collaboration with other entities and the attention to specific groups of professionals, such as medical students.
The role of the pandemic in the College of Physicians of Valencia
These elections, in addition, have been clearly clouded by the coronavirus pandemic. And that is something that they also take into account in their program. For example, now that many doctors are sick or saturated due to the huge workload, they propose the televoting as a measure to facilitate the bureaucracy behind certain institutional decisions. That would include this very electoral process. In fact, they have come to propose the cancellation of the elections under the traditional model, although it seems that they will finally go ahead.
“I trust that the anticipation of the elections and the lack of the security measures that we ask for to guarantee the right to vote safely, will become a shock tomorrow and awaken the spirits of the doctors to decide their future and that of their electoral college, without interference outside the profession, political or economic ”.
Ana Arbaizar, doctor candidate for the presidency of the Illustrious College of Physicians of Valencia
In addition, they propose to fight to be able to carry out their professional activity in the most dignified way, both for themselves and for the patients. “Among our measures is to establish the nNecessary negotiations with the Administration and with other groups in the health field to, once and for all, decongest Primary Care “, explains the Real Doctors candidate. “For example, taking away from the physician the time and bureaucratic burden that patient care needs. And also dedicating that time to quality medical treatments ”.
The importance of dignifying the profession
Despite being the elections for a specific College of Physicians, these have become a symbol of the struggle between evidence and pseudosciences. And that, according to Dr. Arbaizar, can become a shock for doctors across the country. “We are, simply and exclusively, real doctors,” he emphasizes. “That is why we oppose pseudosciences being represented in the Illustrious College of Physicians of Valencia. And that is why we defend the limitation of 8-year terms, or the official appearance of the college in cases of aggression. If these measures serve to open the debate in other schools, they are welcome. I hope that the defense that the medical profession in Spain needs will begin tomorrow in Valencia ”.
It would be a defense that would start in a unique moment. After the end of the legislature of those applause that was followed by insults. After the end of a stage in which we have come face to face with a harsh reality. That neither all doctors nor all scientists rely on science. At the end of this legislature, Valencian patients, as well as those from the rest of Spain and the entire world, have seen how some doctors, calling themselves the defenders of the truth, have vilified the advances of decades of scientific knowledge. Therefore, this list of candidates considers that it is time to take pseudosciences out of the equation. “From Real doctors We believe that good medical practices should be aligned with science, ethics and our code of ethics ”.
That is the wish of the members of this list that, even focusing on Valencia, represents the wishes of many doctors. Place medicine as far as possible from pseudosciences.