2023-10-31 03:59:23
A resident of the Valencian town of Catarroja reports having suffered an alleged case of linguistic discrimination in which her doctor refused to process her sick leave for not speak to him in Spanish. According to the patient, the doctor pressured her to stop speaking in Valencian and then the health center coordinator endorsed the public worker’s attitude.
Plataforma per la Llengua, an entity self-proclaimed as the ‘Catalan NGO, has echoed this new episode of alleged language violationat the same time that it has served as a bridge for the claim that the patient has presented so that the process is monitored and the Public Administration investigates the events that occurred on October 2.
According to the experience narrated by the user, she went to the emergency room because she had a very bad cold. She explains that, halfway through her explanation, The doctor cut him off and demanded that he speak in Spanish.. However, she maintained her desire to continue speaking her mother tongue, to which, she maintains, the healthcare provider told her that she could not assist her, thus refusing to process her sick leave “if she did not switch to Spanish.”
According to the linguistic organization, just after these events, the coordinator of the medical center entered the consultation and agreed with the doctor, both forcing the patient to change languages. Faced with this demand, all of them argued until the user admitted feeling “humiliated and threatened”.
For all this, Platform sent a written letter to the health center with the aim of knowing their version and remembering that they must guarantee the linguistic rights of users. In this regard, it considers that these discriminations violate the law and, specifically, Valencian speakers, since article 3 of Law 4/1983, on the Use and Teaching of Valencian, responds to the right of citizens to express themselves in the native language. without being discriminated against for language reasons.
Likewise, he emphasizes, article 9 of the Statute of Autonomy determines that Valencian citizens have the right to address the Administration in any of the two official languages and receive a response in the same language used.
In this sense, the entity remembers that decree 61/2017 establishes that Valencian will be the language of normal and general use of the Administration of the Generalitat Valenciana, and, therefore, of health centers, and that a state standard, The Public Employee Statute provides that officials guarantee attention to citizens in the language they requested, as long as it is official in the territory.
«Very serious fault»
«Although, individually, a worker is not obliged to know Valencian, he cannot deprive himself of a service due to language, and The administration has the obligation to organize so that care is available in both Valencian and Spanish,” they defend. Finally, in the case of health services, article 72 of law 55/2003 considers as a “very serious offense” any action that involves discrimination for ideological or language reasons, both of the staff and of the users of the services. Health centers.
In connection with this case, Platform for the Language has convened one demonstration in front of the Catarroja medical center for this Monday, October 30, to defend linguistic rights and pursue ‘Valencianophobia’. In his latest report on language violations, he confirms, always according to his data, that this type of discrimination has tripled in healthcare during the last year.
During the Government of Ximo Puig, Platform for Language urged the Ministry of Health and the management of health centers to inform professionals of their duty to guarantee the right of citizens to express themselves in Valencian. In addition, in 2020, the entity promoted the “Healthcare in Valencian” campaign, which called for regulations on the linguistic training of health personnel and presented a proposed protocol to guarantee health care in Valencian. However, the Executive of the PSPV-PSOE, Compromís and Podemos ignored their requests and did not approve any specific decree to develop the linguistic requirement in the healthcare field.
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