For years, the regional government in Madrid has been implementing austerity programs in the healthcare sector. The medical staff is groaning under the consequences, citizens can no longer find a family doctor. They vent their anger at a mass protest in the Spanish capital.
Hundreds of thousands have protested in Madrid against public health cuts. According to the organizers, after a star march, around one million people gathered at Cibeles Square in the center of the Spanish capital. This significantly exceeded the number of participants in the last mass protest against the austerity programs of the conservative regional government, when almost 700,000 took to the streets in November 2022, according to the organizers. The Interior Ministry estimated the number of demonstrators at 250,000.
74 organizations, including citizens' initiatives and associations of doctors and nurses, had called for the protest under the motto "Madrid is rising". The demonstrators chanted slogans like "The united people will never be defeated" and carried placards with slogans like "Stop health terrorism".
More than 800,000 Madrilenians have not been assigned a family doctor in their respective health centers due to the lack of staff, it said. "The cuts that have been made since 2010 are destroying public health. We are all at the end of our strength, the situation is unbearable," said a doctor at the Hospital de la Princesa. "Ten doctors are currently doing the work of 15," wrote the newspaper "El País".
Among the participants were politicians from various parties and well-known artists. In addition to more investment, they also called for the resignation of the regional head of government, Isabel Díaz Ayuso. The regional government has dismissed criticism, saying the protests ahead of regional and local elections on May 28 and general elections later this year are "politically motivated".
Not only in Madrid, but also in other regions of Spain, medical staff and patients are protesting against cuts in the health sector. According to media estimates, around 20,000 people took to the streets in Santiago de Compostela in the Galicia region, and according to the police there were 11,000 in Burgos.
