In the healthcare field, it is very common to receive Arta in Spanish, and instead of always walking “Euskaraz-ya know?-ka”, the Basque has surrendered and done so many times in Spanish. With reality as such, all the tools that will pave the way for the Basque to do it in Basque are welcome. The symbol “e” is already known to us because it is used to identify health workers who know Basque and we have seen it often in the services. Thanks to this symbol, linguistic stress is relieved because the Basques know that they can do it directly in Basque.

Ten years ago, Osakidetza launched a registration process through which citizens can choose the language in which they want to be attended: Basque or Spanish. It is still possible to register today. 370,000 people have chosen Basque.

Now Osakidetza takes another step. Those admitted to the hospital keep an identification bracelet for as long as they are in the hospital. They do the same with those who come to the emergency room until they are discharged. The bracelet includes name and surname, date of birth, medical history code and other information. The “e” symbol will appear next to them. Every healthcare worker will know that as soon as they see this sign, this patient has been asked to be treated in Basque.

Adding the “e” symbol to the bracelet is part of a larger project. The aim of the project, as stated by Osakidetza and the Health Department, is “to improve the quality of the care process by recognising the default language of patients and, on the other hand, to identify those who prioritise Basque so that they can always be treated in their own language”. Recognition and identification, but there is no guarantee that the patient will be treated in Basque. They have not explained what work they have done with the professionals and how they will behave when they see the “e” symbol on the bracelet. Those of us who have the Basque language by default in the Osakidetza register have not noticed much difference in these years, they have not referred us to the Basque gynecologist or because they do not have Basque professionals they have not apologized for not being able to guarantee our right. No one has ever said to me, “You have Basque by default and wait a bit to see if I can find Basque.”

How can the bracelet help? Perhaps it can be effective in the face and in the moment. That is, the professional can immediately see the symbol and offer it in Basque without the patient asking for it. The Basque Government, in its news release, does not say how the professionals will behave. Do professionals have a protocol for when they see the “e” symbol? Have you talked about language rights? The importance of language in providing quality service? If the employee does not know, will he go for what he knows in Basque?

The steps taken to guarantee the linguistic rights of Basque speakers are welcome, if they are effective. In any case, I remember the doctor Aitor Montes and the vice-rector of the Basque language area of the UPV/EHU, Jon Zarate. In 2022, they took advantage of a full summer course at the UPV to discuss the concept of active offering.

In the announcement of the course, the concept of active offer was defined as follows: "Language services would be services provided by health institutions to overcome language barriers between users and professionals, whether human or technical. The active offer of language services would be: an invitation to use the default language, both oral and written, always before the request and without forcing users to request it. An active offer would be a set of measures at the institutional level that can guarantee the visibility, availability and accessibility of language services, being the responsibility of the institutions and not of the users in any case."

Even if we are recognized, registered and identified, we experience linguistic stress in our body, and often we do not get what we want and need: to do it in Basque.