Madrid, Europe Brief News – Tens of thousands of Spanish public health workers and their supporters staged a demonstration on Sunday to protest against the public health project.
Organizers say 670,000 people took to the streets, while the government estimates that around 200,000 protestors showed up.
The march came to protest against ‘the progressive dismantling of the public health system in favour of private providers by the conservative regional government in Madrid.’
Partial walkouts started in the region last Monday, with an all-out strike called for November 21 for nearly 5,000 Madrid doctors.
Unions representing around 5,000 family doctors in Madrid have also said they will join the indefinite strike from Nov. 21.
“Madrid’s public health is in critical condition. We’ve gone from the applause of the pandemic to being totally forgotten,” Monica, a nurse, told Spanish broadcaster RTVE at the protest on Sunday.
Neighbourhood associations, labour unions and leftist political parties have organized the protest on Sunday.
The capital regional government, led by the Popular Party’s Isabel Ayuso, has come under fire in recent years, and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, for poor staffing in hospitals and primary healthcare centres.
Organisers say that although the city is the Spanish region with the highest income per capita, it also spends the least amount per capita on primary healthcare.
They say that for every two euros spent on healthcare in Madrid, one ends up in the private sector.
