In Madrid, thousands of protesters against cuts in the health system

Healthcare workers and people from Madrid took to the streets to protest against cuts to Madrid's regional healthcare system on January 15, 2023. © ISABEL INFANTES / REUTERS

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According to the regional delegation, they were around 30,000 to parade this Sunday, January 15 in the Spanish capital.

The Madrid region is one of those to have the most reduced public funding to the detriment of working conditions.

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With our correspondent in Madrid,

Diane Cambon

Health personnel and thousands of residents of the Madrid region took to the streets of the capital this Sunday to say "basta" to the health policy of the president of the Madrid region, who defends the private health system.

Out of breath long before the Covid-19 pandemic, the health service in this region, which is the richest in Spain, is now on the verge of implosion.

The emergency department has been on strike three days a week for several months and health centers are also idling, also due to strike movements.

Vuelve la "Marea Blanca" pidiendo la defense de la salud pública con recursos en #Madrid


La marche multitudinaria anterior contó con la presencia de Almodovar pic.twitter.com/yorE4gXWpa

— Luis Bremer (@luisbremer) January 15, 2023

Major budget cuts in the Madrid region

Health personnel are demanding better working conditions and above all the hiring of additional personnel.

Currently, nearly 800,000 residents of the Madrid region do not have regular doctors.

Public health, which is a regional competence in Spain, lives to the rhythm of budget cuts throughout the country, but it is especially in the region of Madrid, led by the conservative and very liberal,

Isabel Diaz Ayuso

.

The savings made there have been the most drastic for the benefit of private health care which tends to develop for the upper middle classes.

► To read also: International report - In Spain, a public health system on the brink

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