The public healthcare defense demonstration called for this Saturday, April 5, in Seville by the unions Satse, CSIF, CCOO, and UGT, along with the Coordinadora de la Marea Blanca, has begun with the attendance of thousands of people—around 10,000, according to the Government’s Subdelegation at 11:00 a.m.—and the presence of political representatives from the main left-wing parties and opposition to the Andalusian government of the PP-A led by Juanma Moreno, such as the general secretary of the PSOE-A, María Jesús Montero; the spokesperson and deputy spokesperson of the parliamentary group Por Andalucía, Inma Nieto (IU) and Alejandra Durán (Podemos), respectively, and the spokesperson of Adelante Andalucía, José Ignacio García.
The mobilization started at 11:00 a.m. from José Laguillo street in the Andalusian capital towards the Palacio de San Telmo, the seat of the Junta’s Presidency, with the organizers aiming to urge the Andalusian government to «cease all covert privatization» of public healthcare.
The protest is supported by twenty political and social organizations and a joint manifesto that demands up to ten specific measures, including more investments, ending delays in Primary Care and waiting lists, and complying with the career professional modification.
The union representatives warn that the President of the Junta, Juanma Moreno, «is betting on a weak, mistreated public healthcare system that decides to transfer a large part of its public budget to big pharmaceutical companies and private healthcare, closing a pernicious circle wrongly labeled as public-private collaboration to hide healthcare privatization, the enhancement of private healthcare, and an unprecedented deterioration of public healthcare.»
The unions alert that the healthcare staff is «suffering the worst mistreatment experienced by a public administration towards its professionals.» «They are the worst-paid public healthcare professionals in the State, they suffer the most workload with tight staff numbers, and when the Andalusian Government has to adjust budgets, it puts its hand in their pockets and takes money away,» they add.
Similarly, the unions accuse the Health Department, «with Juanma Moreno’s approval,» of committing «the greatest institutional disloyalty known in the history of the Junta de Andalucía, which directly attacks public healthcare and its professionals,» as after signing agreements to improve Primary Care and professional careers and «highlighting the advantages of these agreements, the Department backs down with non-compliance and even non-recognition of them.»
### MARÍA JESÚS MONTERO LEADING THE PSOE-A REPRESENTATION
Among the attendees of this demonstration were political leaders, such as a representation of the PSOE-A led by its general secretary, María Jesús Montero, who, at the start of the protest, considered this Saturday a day to celebrate «because Andalusian society takes to the streets to demand quality healthcare, ensuring that anyone in need of medical attention will receive it immediately and in the best possible conditions.»
The former Health Councilor and current Vice President of the Government emphasized that this demonstration aims to «demand better conditions for healthcare professionals and, ultimately, regain the self-esteem and pride that this land had regarding a public healthcare system that was at the forefront of research, had new last-generation rights for citizens, and, above all, allowed for no waiting lists.»
María Jesús Montero asserted that the President of the Junta, Juanma Moreno, «has had more resources than ever to improve healthcare,» and yet, «what he has done is worsen it,» highlighting that in this demonstration, «thousands of citizens are demanding a basic right like the right to be cured, if their treatment is possible, to have it in a timely manner.»
### MORE POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES
On the other hand, the deputy spokesperson of the parliamentary group Por Andalucía and representative of Podemos, Alejandra Durán, emphasized that «thousands of people» have joined the demonstration to tell Juanma Moreno «enough of the policies that dismantle our public healthcare.»
«It is urgent that the Health Department complies with the signed Primary Care agreement to strengthen this system and also the diagnostic tests,» added the Podemos representative, who stated that «it cannot be that a billion euros are being diverted to private healthcare when every single one of those euros is needed for our public healthcare,» concluding with a warning that «the Andalusian Government will have us against them alongside the citizens.»
On his part, the spokesperson of Adelante Andalucía, José Ignacio García, spoke of a «historic day» because «the Andalusian people are rising for healthcare,» as the citizens are «very tired» of Juanma Moreno’s government «and the plan of the right-wing to sell absolutely everything.»
In the same vein, the spokesperson of the Mixto-Adelante Andalucía Group in the Andalusian Parliament denounced that «the right-wing in power» in the Junta «have a clear project» based on the idea that «everything has a price, everything can be chopped up, and everything can be sold,» but «the Andalusian people know that there are things so important that they are priceless, that they cannot be sold, and healthcare is one of them,» he warned.
José Ignacio García argued that «the process we are experiencing in Andalusia did not start now,» but «has been ongoing for 20 years,» during which there has been a «systematic dismantling of public healthcare,» considering it «essential» and «indispensable to remove the right-wing from power and Juanma Moreno from the government of the Junta de Andalucía, not to go back to the models that initiated the privatization process.»
At this point, the Adelante spokesperson referred to María Jesús Montero’s participation in this demonstration, noting that «we do not forget» that the former Health Councilor «and the Socialist Party were the ones who invented healthcare privatization,» emphasizing the need to «look forward to a process that defends public services above private interests, and that’s what we are doing in Adelante Andalucía.»
FUENTE