MIR Base Salary Debate: '€1,387 Gross'

MIR Doctors' Base Salary: €1,387 Gross, According to a Forum User

A forum user claims that a resident doctor in Spain starts with a base salary of €1,387 gross per month, the fixed remuneration for the A1 public administration group, the same as judges, tax inspectors, or state attorneys. Spain has boasted about having the best healthcare system in the world for years. This figure shifts the focus to who sustains it and how much they earn for doing so.

What's Behind the €1,387 Base Salary

According to the same user, all A1 group public servants—doctors, judges, engineers, state attorneys, inspectors—earn the same identical gross base salary. Destination and specific complements, as well as seniority increments (trienios), are added on top, which increase the final paycheck. Some argue that no full-time public employee earns only €1,387 because it would be below the minimum wage (SMI), and that is precisely the trick being discussed: the base amount does not equate to the real salary.

The administrative design has a consequence that is rarely mentioned. A participant points out that if an administration faces difficulties, it can withdraw destination and complements and send the public servant home to collect their base pay and seniority increments, adding that neither the private sector nor most countries in the region have an equivalent figure.

How Much a Resident Earns with On-Call Duties Added

Here, the narrative splits. Calculations circulating in the thread show a first-year resident earning €1,225 net per month without on-call duties and €2,087 with about 80 hours of on-call duty. An R5 goes from €1,531 to €2,758. Intermediate levels range from €1,290 to €1,620 without on-call duties and between €2,300 and €2,980 with them, always in net figures. The complete breakdown, year by year, reveals the difference between the paycheck with and without on-call duties.

The higher end of the range supports the other version: that an advanced resident can exceed €3,000 net per month with on-call duties and reach nearly €60,000 annually. This calculation is circulating, and it's advisable to read it in full before accepting it, as it mixes complements, night shifts, and holidays in a way that is not always explicitly stated.

24-Hour On-Call Shifts: Work or Waiting Time?

No one has fully explained why a doctor can work 24 consecutive hours while a truck driver cannot. The defense of the system adds that many of these on-call shifts involve sleeping or watching series, and the money is earned for being available. The objection comes from the other side: if it's dead time, it's excessive and shouldn't require physical presence.

In between lies an uncomfortable comparison. Some argue that a high school teacher with 20 weekly teaching hours can earn more than a resident with 80 hours of on-call duty per month. Four years of university versus seven, and a vocation that does the rest of the work.

Why Spanish Doctors Are Leaving

The most cited case these days involves a surgical resident who applied for a cashier job at Mercadona to improve their salary and received a public response from the chain, as reported by El Debate. The anecdote is more telling than any report: someone with half a lifetime of training calculating whether it's better to restock shelves.

Opposing this exodus is a recurring argument in the discussion: that many residents end up setting up private practices, and a dermatologist can earn over €300,000. Some also point out that no doctor trained in Germany, France, or Italy works in a Spanish hospital, while the shortage is filled by professionals trained abroad. With these figures, a mass exodus would seem reasonable, but other participants argue that it's not massive, although a trickle exists. If the base salary remains frozen and on-call duties continue to be the only significant supplement, the system won't need a grand plan: it will suffice if a few pack their bags each year.