Spanish march over health cuts
Madrid – Thousands of Spanish medical workers marched through downtown Madrid today to protest against budget cuts and plans to partly privatise their cherished national health service.
The march is part of a series of such demonstrations, described as a ‘‘white tide’’ because of the colour of the medical scrubs many protesters wear.
Participants walked behind a large banner saying, ‘‘Health care is not to be sold, it’s to be defended’’.
Monica Garcia, spokeswoman for the Association of Medical Specialists of Madrid, which initiated the march, said the regional government was trying ‘‘to obtain economic benefit’’ from a system it had not invested in.
Healthcare and education are administered by Spain’s 17 semiautonomous regions rather than the central government.
Many regions are
struggling financially as Spain’s economy has fallen back into recession. Some regions overspent in the good times but are now unable to borrow on financial markets to repay their huge debts, forcing them to make savings and even request aid from the central government.
The region of Madrid proposes selling the management of six of 20 large public hospitals in its territory and 27 of 268 health centres. It argues the measures are needed to fix the region’s finances and secure health services.
Dr Agustin Reverte, 31, said privatisations would lead to fewer diagnostic tests on patients and fewer medical staff.
‘‘Those in government have money, so they don’t care if they have to pay for healthcare,’’ said Aurora Rojas, a 55-year-old nurse.
‘‘But the rest of us who just have a regular salary will not be able to afford decent treatment.’’