Status: 02/12/2023 7:12 p.m
In Madrid, 250,000 people demonstrated for better health care. Government institutions in the region suffer from a lack of equipment and staff.
In the Spanish capital Madrid, hundreds of thousands of people have again protested against the regional government’s management of the health system. The organizers of the protests spoke of almost a million demonstrators, according to official figures there were 250,000. Banners read “Health is not for sale”.
The public health system in the Madrid region suffers from a lack of equipment and staff. In view of the long waiting times for doctor’s appointments, sick people are increasingly going to the emergency rooms of the hospitals, which leads to overburdening there. The demonstrators accuse the regional government of favoring private health facilities instead of putting more resources into the public system.
“The cuts that have been made since 2010 are destroying public health. We are all at the end of our strength, the situation is untenable,” said a doctor at the Hospital de la Princesa of the dpa news agency. “Ten doctors are currently doing the work of 15,” wrote the newspaper “El País”.
It was the third mass protest against the decay of the public health system in Madrid since November 21. The current demonstration was the largest of its kind.
The protest came from associations of employees in the health sector. They were supported by left-wing parties, trade unions and citizens. Prime Minister Isabel Díaz Ayuso said the protests served the political agenda of her left-wing rivals ahead of Spain’s regional elections in May.