Cuts and protests are shaking up Iberian healthcare. In Spain the demonstrations are concentrated above all in the capital and in particular in the Puerta del Sol, the traditional meeting place of the indignados, where even the white coats have poured into repeated demonstrations. They have baptized them, in fact, "white tides" and the last one took place last Sunday with 70,000 doctors and nurses (according to organizers' estimates) in the square to contest the privatizations announced by the Autonomous Community of Madrid. Healthcare in Spain is highly decentralized and is largely delegated to the Regions (called Autonomous Communities); the one in which the national capital is located is governed by the Partido Popular, which has communicated its intention to privatize six large hospitals out of twenty and 27 health centers out of 270. The operation is linked to the health reform desired by the prime minister Mariano Rajoy, which should ensure savings of seven billion euros to state coffers. However, according to the protesters, this is another step towards the complete destruction of public health, already brought to its knees by the cuts. Its Portuguese cousins are also hit hard by the economic downturn and health care spending is threatened by substantial cuts. The decision follows the rejection by the Portuguese Constitutional Court of the austerity measures already proposed by the conservative government of Pedro Passos Coelho. The prime minister had decided not to pay civil servants' salaries to meet the budget targets agreed by Lisbon with the European authorities. The provision would have helped to find the necessary five billion euros and now, in order to reach the established figure, cuts have been made to the ministries, in particular those of Education and Health. However, commentators do not exclude that the cut to the fourteenth month salary will be presented again by the Portuguese executive, formulated in a different way and restricted to certain categories of workers.
April 23, 2013 – DoctorNews33
