One in five new doctors in the province of Alicante goes to the private sector

After finishing their residency, one out of every five new doctors in the province of Alicante goes to work in private healthcare. This is what the Official College of Physicians of Alicante says based on the most recent statistics, which is from 2025.

Those numbers show that there are 10,321 doctors who are members of the association, which is necessary to be able to practise medicine. Of them, 5,020 work in the public system and 1,791 operate in private practice. There are 1,300 people who work in both systems (a mixed system), and 2,111 people are not currently practising because they have retired, moved abroad, or left the field. Furthermore, some 500 registered doctors have continued to work in the public sector after they retired.

More people in college

Doctors have their own ideas on what’s going on. “Rafael Pérez Trullás, a doctor at a health centre in the capital and a member of the CESCV Medical Union, says, “This data gives us a pretty clear picture of how the medical field is changing in Alicante.” The first thing to note is that there are a lot more registered doctors now than there were ten years ago. That’s a good thing in and of itself. The issue is where and how they are practising. “The public system is getting bigger, yes, but not as fast as the whole system. That means it can’t take in all the new professionals,” says the primary care doctor.

The data also shows that private medical practice is growing steadily in the province. “It’s not a fad or something that will happen once; it’s a trend. And most of the time, it’s not because of ideology but because of real practical things like better financial conditions, more control over scheduling, and less burnout. Many doctors aren’t leaving the public sector all at once, but many are seeking other jobs.

Compatibility

As for the practice of doctors working in both the private and public healthcare sectors at the same time, which was a good way for many professionals to get out of their jobs for a while, this option is now stalling. The reason is that “combining public and private practice is becoming increasingly difficult due to the excessive workload and the way the public healthcare system is organised.”

It is important to emphasise, nevertheless, that public health experts must ask the Ministry of Health for permission to work in the private sector, but they do not have to tell their professional association.

As part of the negotiations for the draft Framework Statute with the Ministry of Health, there was a provision that would have forced department and section heads to only work in the public healthcare system, as well as residents for the first five years after they finished their residency. The group’s protests on the street got it taken out of the text.

On the other side, the doctor stresses a point that isn’t often brought up but that he thinks is significant. “The number of doctors who don’t work is also going up. There are retirements, but there are also professionals that quit, move to another country, or just stop working in clinical practice. That should make us think.

The expert says that there are enough doctors, but not enough ways to keep them in the public health system.

Too much

The main reasons include too much work, worse pay and working conditions, burnout after the pandemic, and an older workforce. The private sector, on the other hand, is growing because it is more flexible and has better working conditions. The hybrid model is no longer working.

It is a fact that more and more doctors are leaving to work in the private sector. “If this isn’t fixed, the problem isn’t that there aren’t enough doctors; it’s that there will be fewer and fewer where they are most needed.”

On the other hand, 488 members of the Alicante Bar Association have been able to work in the public sector for longer because of active retirement, which the government is prolonging for another year.