Protest against the privatization of public healthcare: "We could end up like the United States"

PalmThe Balearic Islands Citizens' Platform for Public Healthcare warned this Thursday that the situation of public healthcare is "critical" and that the system "risks resembling the United States model," where "if you have money, you get treatment, and if not, you don't." "The long-term objective seems to be to turn Spain into the United States. We could end up like them. That is, those who have money can receive care, and those who don't, can't," denounced Antonio Picazo, a member of the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Palma, who added that the platform will fight to ensure that public healthcare "is not reduced to mere band-aids."

These statements were made during the presentation of the Manifesto for the recovery of a public, universal, equitable, efficient and quality healthcare systemThe event took place at the headquarters of the Official College of Nurses of the Balearic Islands (COIBA). With this action, the Citizens' Platform for Public Healthcare aimed to revitalize its efforts and demand that resources currently allocated to private healthcare be redirected to the public system to guarantee its universality and quality.

The document is signed by twelve organizations: the Balearic Islands Women's Association, the Association for the Defense of Public Healthcare in the Balearic Islands, ALAS Health and Sexuality, the Levante Women's Collective, Women in Dance of Alaró, Embate of Manacor, the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Mallorca, the Mallorca World City Forum, Medicus Mundi Mediterrània, and the Platform for the Defense of Public Pensions. According to Kiko Puigventós, a member of the Platform, public healthcare "is in a critical situation due to the evolution of recent years" and the degree of privatization in the Balearic Islands, one of the three regions with the highest proportion of private healthcare providers, along with Madrid and Catalonia. In this regard, the organizations denounce the agreements with private hospitals and the referral of patients, demanding maximum transparency from the Administration to disclose all contracts and agreements signed. This occurs in a community where 31% of patients have private insurance and where, as of November 1st, there were more than 103,000 people on waiting lists, over 87,000 of whom were waiting for consultations and over 15,000 for surgery. The signatory organizations call for strengthening Primary Care and ensuring its fundamental principles: universal accessibility, continuity of care, integration of services, social participation, and coordination with other areas of the social and healthcare system. They also demand the elimination of waiting lists with sufficient funding and staffing, and a reduction in hospital waiting times. Professionals who also work in the private sector

Miguel Reyero, a volunteer doctor with Doctors of the World, has denounced the conflicts of interest that can arise when department heads work in both the public and private sectors, and whose management is responsible for waiting lists. "It is essential that department heads work exclusively in the public sector," he argued. He also highlighted the precarious employment situation of healthcare professionals: "There isn't a shortage of doctors in general, but rather of primary care physicians and nurses. Ensuring job security is fundamental, but with volatile contracts, it's not possible." Isabel Coma, from the Platform in Defense of Public Pensions, stated that she has "clearly" witnessed the decline in quality of care within the public healthcare system, with a constant turnover of primary care physicians "to the point that you see a different doctor every day."

Finally, the organizations believe it is necessary to better equip hospitals, optimize the schedules of healthcare professionals, both in consultations and operating rooms, and direct resources not towards the quantity of procedures performed, but towards improving the quality of service. For all these reasons, the groups that signed the manifesto have announced that this Saturday, at 12:00 pm, they will join the demonstration in Plaça d'Espanya, called by the UGT and CCOO unions, to demand a public, universal, and high-quality healthcare system, and to demand an end to its privatization.