Healthcare professionals are once again demonstrating to demand dignified working conditions. Today's protest is a continuation of a series of stoppages the sector has been undertaking since last October. The Metges de Catalunya union has organized a rally in front of the Palau de la Generalitat, in Plaça Sant Jaume, Barcelona, at eleven in the morning.
The union insists that protests will continue as long as the Department of Health does not agree to negotiate improvements that ensure "safe and quality care." The general secretary of Metges de Catalunya, Xavier Lleonart, has warned that the collective's demands have gone beyond the scope of Health and have become a "problem for the entire government and for President Salvador Illa".
“"We will persist until we are heard."
Lleonart regrets that negotiations with the ministry are stalled and believes that "there is an entire generation of doctors who do not want to continue under the conditions we are being asked to work in." Key demands include a specific agreement for the medical collective, the elimination of mandatory 24-hour on-call duties as a standard form of care coverage, and the planning of appointments with patient limits.
They also call for equating working hours with those of other professional groups and increasing staff to combat "structural and planned overload." Lleonart warns that if doctors stopped working "unending shifts of 50, 60, 70, or 80 hours a week," the healthcare system could collapse, as it is currently maintained by the "over-dedication" of professionals.
The union has launched a campaign to encourage doctors to stop working overtime and additional tasks, which the system uses to compensate for the lack of professionals. According to Metges de Catalunya, if this "voluntary activity" ceases, the healthcare system would risk collapse due to "lack of planning and coverage of physicians, which are clearly insufficient".
Regarding the strike's minimum services, normal operation of the emergency service has been planned for both outpatients and inpatients. The functionality of special units such as ICU, CCU, coronary units, hemodialysis, neonatology, radiotherapy and chemotherapy treatments, and unavoidable surgical procedures is also guaranteed.
