The Integral Care Program for Sick Physicians (PAIMM, in Catalan capital letters) was created in 1998 by the Barcelona Medical Council jointly with the Department of Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya (the Regional Government of Catalonia) and the Catalan Health Service, with the Catalan Medical Association joining in later. The aim of this program is to attend, in an integral fashion, to the needs of doctors who are suffering from problems of mental health and/or addictive disorders, in order to ensure that they receive suitable treatment and, consequently, can practise medicine in the best possible conditions for the health of their patients.

The PAIMM is a pioneering program in Europe which has at its disposal collegial procedures (of direct access, of confidentiality, of the use of therapeutic contracts in complex cases, etc.) and a treatment unit, with inpatient services, day hospital services and ambulatory treatment, all of which are specialized and confidential, and specific to medical professionals.

Parting from the experience of the PAIMM, the Catalan Medical Association created, at the beginning of 2001, the Galatea Foundation with the purpose not only of managing the PAIMM, but also of carrying out the analysis and study of situations related to the health of the physician and of other health professionals, with a view to developing, directly and indirectly, action plans to improve the health and the well-being of health professionals, and at the same time, the quality of their praxis.

Dr. Jaume Padrós Selma
President of the Board