MADRID —
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators rallied in
Madrid on Sunday in defense
of the region’s primary care services, warning plans to overhaul the system
would “destroy” local healthcare.
اضافة اعلان
On a sunny afternoon, huge crowds rallied at four
points across the capital and marched on city hall in a mass protest under the
slogan: “Madrid rallies in support of public healthcare and against the plan to
destroy primary care services.”
Primary care
services in the Madrid area have been under huge pressure for years due to a
lack of resources and staff, with the situation worsened by poor regional
management, unions say.
A regional
government spokesman said there were 200,000 people.
“Healthcare for
all, your health should never depend on your wallet,” read one huge green
banner as thousands of voices chanted “Public healthcare!”
The protest
convened by local associations and municipalities takes aim at the health
policies of the regional government of right-wing leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso —
including a push for public-private healthcare partnerships and its
restructuring of primary care.
The protest comes
ahead of a planned strike by nearly 5,000 regional family doctors and
pediatricians scheduled for November 21, due to “the overload of work, endless
appointments and lack of time with patients”.
They will join an
earlier strike by medical staff over the new model for non-hospital emergency
centers, which have seen some offering only video consultations due to a lack
of staff.
Speaking to
reporters at the rally, Monica Garcia of the hard-left Mas Madrid party said
the health policy of the regional government, which is run by the right-wing
Popular Party (PP), was destroying the public health system.
“What they are
doing is an unprecedented disaster,” she said.
“Ayuso needs to
step up, listen to this demonstration and take political responsibility: either
her health minister goes or she goes, or the whole Popular Party government
goes” she said.
“There is a very
simple way to retain professionals and that is to treat them well: give them
contracts that are not just for a month, a week, a weekend. When a government
is incapable of doing this, it is because there are political interests at
work.”
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