Monitoring Desk
MADRID: Tens of thousands of Spanish health workers protested in Madrid on Sunday over the conservative regional government’s destruction of the public health system.
Dressed in white coats and banging drums, several chanted: “Cutting public health is criminal negligence.”
The regional government of Madrid, led by the Popular Party’s Isabel Ayuso, has been under fire in recent years, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, for poor management of hospitals and primary healthcare centers.
Protesters say the Madrid regional government is dismantling public health services and favoring private health providers.
Health workers’ allegations
Dressed like the Grim Reaper and bearing a mock scythe, a protester who was holding a sign reading, “I am Ayuso’s plan for (the) emergency ward.”
“We have about 40 or 50 patients daily and can give them about six minutes each patient. The problem is that the government does not allow us to give proper care to patients,” Ana Encinas, a doctor who has worked in primary health care in Madrid for 37 years, told Reuters.
Ayuso denies the allegations that her administration is dismantling public health services in favor of the private sector. She said the protests and strikes are being orchestrated by left-wing political parties in the run-up to regional and municipal elections this year to undermine the conservative Madrid regional government.
In November, many people marched through central Madrid to support health workers calling for better working conditions.
