Thousands of doctors and health personnel working at emergency services in the Madrid region staged a strike Monday, demanding substantial wage increases and more means to carry out their work from local health authorities.
The indefinite strike, called by the doctor’s union Amyts, began at 8 am on Monday.
The health workers protested the “chaotic” situation they are confronted with every day and the heavy workload caused by the recent decision by the region to reopen all emergency services for 24 hours non-stop.
“We are already experiencing the consequences of this plan from the first days with resignations of doctors (more than twenty so far), stress and anxiety in professionals, terrible overload of care as the (Madrid) administration dismantles teams, and centres without the minimum sufficient staff for proper care and even workplaces without basic equipment such as defibrillators”, Amyts lamented in a press release.
The Health Ministry has set a minimum service of 100% (workers are obliged by law to work), which according to Amyts, “violates the (constitutional) right to strike”.
Amyts stressed that it aims to guarantee the quality and safety of emergency care for Madrid’s 6.6 million-strong population and to “attract health professionals” to work in the emergency services of the Spanish capital in the future.
“Otherwise, there is a risk that they will leave the Madrid health system as a result of a hasty, imposed and unilateral measure by the Ministry of Health”, Amyts stressed.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Carolina Darias expressed the government’s concern on Monday about “dismantling” Madrid’s health system and accused Madrid’s regional conservative President Isabel Díaz Ayuso of singling out professionals.
“You can’t disrespect them”, Darias said.
(Fernando Heller | EuroEFE.EURACTIV.es)
Source: euractiv.com
