Unions and the Platform for Public Healthcare take to the streets against privatization: "Private healthcare is a parasite"

PalmThis Saturday at noon, weather permitting, Palma's Plaça d'Espanya will host a rally in defense of public healthcare and against privatization, jointly organized by the UGT and CCOO unions and the Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Healthcare. The three organizations are calling on citizens to mobilize "in the face of the growing privatization and deterioration of the Balearic healthcare system," which they assert is jeopardizing the universality and quality of care. According to family physician José Manuel Aranda, a member of the Federation of Associations for the Defense of Public Healthcare, the Balearic Islands are currently the third autonomous community with the highest degree of healthcare privatization, only behind the Canary Islands and Madrid. Aranda warns that "9.1% of the Health Department's budget is allocated to agreements with private providers, while only 12.1% reaches primary care," a figure he considers "a clear example of the imbalance of a model that transfers public funds to private businesses while stifling the foundation of the system."

"Private healthcare is a parasite of the public system"

Aranda is unequivocal in his criticism: "Private healthcare is a parasite of the public system because it lives off its infrastructure, its professionals trained with public resources, and its referred patients." He also denounces the fact that "there are doctors who work mornings in public hospitals and afternoons in private ones, where they often treat the very patients they've referred," a situation he describes as a "clear conflict of interest." For this reason, he demands a real and effective conflict-of-interest law: "You can't work for a company and its competitor at the same time. If you're paid by the public system, you have to dedicate yourself exclusively to it." The doctor warns that without this measure, "the public system won't survive," since "many of those who should be managing and prioritizing public resources have interests in the private sector."

According to Aranda, privatization not only diverts money but also worsens quality and increases mortality: "In England, after the transfer of public funds to the private sector promoted by Margaret Thatcher, an excess of 600 deaths per year was estimated during the period analyzed." He also points out that the Balearic Islands are one of the regions where privatization is growing most rapidly, along with Catalonia and Madrid, and warns that "a system that was among the best in the world can still be, but only if the resources currently dedicated to private referrals are used to strengthen public services."

"When public services are cut, private services are fed."

From the CCOO Health union, delegate Cristina Arias, from Son Espases Hospital, agrees that the public system "is undergoing a process of covert privatization." "More and more resources are being allocated to private healthcare, and that's a serious problem, because every euro that goes to the private sector is a euro taken from the public system," she denounces. Arias believes that "when public healthcare is cut, the service worsens, and then they justify referring patients to create more IV lines. It's a vicious cycle." She also laments that "this dynamic is no longer an exception, but has become a structural model," which, in addition to deteriorating the quality of care, demotivates professionals: "Healthcare workers feel exhausted, unrecognized, and with salaries that don't reflect their dedication."

The Secretary of Social Policy and Health at the UGT union, María José Cordero, reinforces this diagnosis and states that privatization "not only worsens the quality of care, but also the working conditions of employees." "Any outsourced service is of lower quality, because behind it are companies that want to make money from a product essential to the welfare state. Our pillars are health and education, and if they weaken, the entire social structure falters," she emphasizes. Cordero warns that "we are approaching a model like that of the United States, where if you get sick you can lose your home," and argues that "if primary care functioned properly, hospitals wouldn't be overwhelmed." "We need to strengthen the foundation of the system, not push people towards private insurance." She also calls, like Aranda, for full-time dedication for professionals in the public system: "It can't be that a doctor has three jobs. If you work in the public sector, it's to serve the public, not to double your income."

Criticisms of SIMEBAL and healthcare management

The three organizers also agree in criticizing the role of the medical union SIMEBAL and its strike against the Ministry's framework statute. Aranda considers it "surprising that a strike is being called against the Ministry, when the working conditions of healthcare professionals depend on the Department of Health." He accuses the union of "defending the personal interests of its leaders more than public healthcare." "SIMEBAL is exploiting the real discontent of public healthcare workers to defend its own interests. When department heads are allowed to do double duty in the private sector, it's not the public that's being protected, but rather privilege. SIMEBAL has political interests," he adds. According to Aranda, "it's contradictory to want to defend public healthcare and, at the same time, maintain a foothold in the private sector."

The unions agree that the discontent among healthcare staff has worsened since the pandemic, when "staff shortages, unfilled absences, and excessive workloads" became evident. "When there are strikes, minimum services are usually higher than normal services, and that says a lot about the system's collapse," Cordero comments. They also denounce the mismanagement of waiting lists, which now exceed 100,000 patients in the Balearic Islands. "They implement emergency plans, hire extra staff, and refer patients to private providers, but the problem isn't solved. If private medicine relies on referrals, it will never have any incentive to eliminate them."

This Saturday's demonstration aims to be a collective response to this situation and a call "to all citizens, not just healthcare workers." "Public healthcare wasn't given to us as a gift," Cordero reminds us, "it was achieved through hard work and struggle, and now it's our turn to defend it again." The organizers are demanding more funding, more professionals, better management, and fewer referrals, and warn that "if the privatization trend isn't stopped, the system will cease to be universal." "Tomorrow's rally is of interest to all citizens, because defending public healthcare is defending an essential right and a model of society in which health doesn't depend on one's bank account," Arias concludes.