[An analysis of the introduction of pediatric surgery in Spain]

The specialty of paediatric surgery (P.S.) has been officially recognized in Spain since 1977 as being independent of other surgical areas, and charged with carrying out pathological surgery in paediatric ages. In spite of the considerable progress made, it suffers constant threats, which is why we feel it is opportune to review various aspects of the problems it is currently facing. If we observe how the specialty is distributed, we can see that there are many paediatric services and professorships which do not send their patients to a P.S. specialist. The child's health may suffer as a result of the Administration's decision to allow twenty-two provinces (seven million inhabitants) to go without P.S. We know that many specialties carry out surgery on the paediatric population, so we may well ask: What use is the P.S. qualification? Information was collected from legal sources which indicates the need to hold the qualification of "homologated specialist", given that "the doctor who ventures into specialties which are not his/her own may add a risk factor, and thereby give rise more easily to an offence of negligence". It is time that concepts and competences of the specialty were clarified, and to fight to ensure that all Spanish children should be operated on by legally qualified specialists.