Just 13 days after the strike of 5 December last, the doctors fold their arms again: “To defend universal public healthcare and stop the looting underway against the National health system“. A 24-hour protest, starting at midnight on Monday 18 December, to reiterate the white coats’ opposition to the Meloni government’s budget law. A maneuver with which, according to the unions, the tolerance threshold was exceeded. The resources for public health they are less and less, unlike those for private healthcare. And this defunding, in addition to being responsible for the progressive worsening of the working conditions of NHS professionals, makes it increasingly difficult to ensure that all citizens, regardless of economic conditions, appropriate standards of care. The mobilization – proclaimed by Aaroi-Emac, Fassid, Fvm e Cisl Medici – may cause cancellation of approx 25 thousand scheduled surgeries. According to the organizers, the last resort of the strike, with the inconvenience it will create for the population, is necessary to send a strong signal: at this rate it will no longer be possible to safeguard the dignity of the most fragile people and hinder the drama of health poverty.
“On December 18th we will protest against an unfair and unacceptable maneuver, but it will only be the dress rehearsal for much more incisive future initiatives,” he explains to ilfattoquotidiano.it Alessandro Vergallonational president Aaroi-Emac. For the union of hospital anesthesiologists, the majority will approve the budget law without further amendments. There is no sign, in fact, that could lead to a reversal of direction. “None of the promises that were made to us were then kept – continues Vergallo -. And that’s why we’re preparing to continue the mobilization also in January. We will double the duration of the protest to 48 hours and go on strike for two consecutive days.” For workers’ representatives, there are many critical issues in the budget law. In the first place, maintaining the ceiling on hiring new staff, which requires NHS employees to bear unsustainable workloads and which forces companies to resort to expensive doctors from private cooperatives to guarantee services. But also the absence of measures for the stabilization of precarious workersthe underfunding of National health fund and the lack of resources for the next collective agreement. All of this, the acronyms comment, demonstrates the lack of will to reverse the trend and reduce the escape from the public, now stripped of its economic and professional assets for the benefit of the profit of large private groups.
“The truly scandalous thing is not so much the much higher remuneration of the freelance colleague who works in the public sector through the cooperative, but the protection money that these private groups pocket on services. We are talking about at least 15% of the overall income – comments Vergallo -. One of the cooperatives we are paying attention to has around 500 colleagues who work a minimum of 1500 hours a year, with an hourly remuneration ranging from 120 to 130 euros per hour. This is at least 100 million euros for a single cooperative, of which 20 million are pocketed by a handful of people who only manage the shifts. We must block these processes and prevent public health from continuing to be a trough for the profit of private groups. We must reclaim the right to health of the population of this country,” he underlines.
The event on 18 December will be only the latest of the protest events organized in recent months by NHS employees. The division into several dates was a method agreed between all the unions in the healthcare world to give the maximum possible strength to the mobilization. The strike will involve anesthetic performancewith the consequent paralysis of the operating rooms, pre-surgical procedures, pain therapy clinics and all deferrable consultations. Furthermore, there is a ban on diagnostic, interventional and outpatient radiology services, laboratory diagnostics, psychological services in clinics, child neuropsychiatry and mental health centres. But also of pharmaceutical services, both in hospital and in the area, and of hygiene and public health services. “There are at least 25 thousand ordinary surgeries that could be missed, on a national scale – confirms the president of Aaroi-Emac -. Each anesthesiologist absent due to strike will make the presence of at least 7 or 8 other workers useless, amplifying the effects of our protest like a snowball,” he concludes.
The strike will be supported by numerous local initiatives throughout Italy. The center will be Rome, where a garrison has been organized in front of the Ministry of Health (Lungotevere Ripa), from 11 am to 1 pm, in which the presidents and national secretaries of the acronyms that proclaimed the mobilization will participate. While in other Italian cities sit-ins, assemblies and press conferences will take place to try to involve and raise awareness among the population about the reasons for the protest. Because, as the white coats who will participate in the strike underline, the destruction of the national health system is a drama that affects everyone, not just those who work there.
2023-12-18 07:07:13
#doctors #strike #maneuver #Public #healthcare #feeding #trough #private #individuals #Fatto #Quotidiano
