Health care defenders demand shorter waits
The Marea Blanca , a platform defending public health in Catalonia, yesterday addressed a letter to the government demanding shorter waiting lists and the cessation of the commercialization of health care. In an event in Barcelona, which coincided with protests taking place throughout Spain for International Human Rights day, the platform denounced “health service waiting lists, which violate the rights to life, freedom and security stipulated in the UDHR”.
In a letter addressed to the minister of economy and finance, Pere Aragonès, the platform states that “waiting lists kill and damage the health of those affected every day, as well as increasing inequalities”.
The measures demanded include ensuring patients’ access to “urgent consultations with specialists within 10 days, urgent diagnostic tests and cancer surgeries within 30 days and GP visits within 48 hours”.
The concentration was attended by other platforms, including the Marea Pensionista (who protest every Monday at the University square) and Élite Taxi (who helped to bring elderly people to Sant Jaume square).
To the dismay of the organizers, however, only about two hundred people made it to the demonstration.