Thursday, October 17, at 7:00 p.m., in front of the Abrantes Health Center
This Thursday, October 17, we once again call on the Carabanchel neighborhood to the weekly demonstration in defense of Primary Care and our health centers. A protest that has been carried out for four years and two months by the residents of the Abrantes neighborhood to denounce the abandonment of their health center, demand more professionals and resources and denounce the dismantling by the Community of Madrid of public health .
And the perseverance of these protests bears fruit: for the first time in years, CS Abrantes has two stable family doctors on the afternoon shift. A small, big victory resulting from the tireless fight of their neighborhood to defend their health center and public healthcare. However, this outpatient clinic is still missing about half of its medical staff, especially in the afternoon shift, which also does not have regular pediatricians. That is why the delays in having an appointment with the primary care professional reach five weeks.
And it is not the only outpatient clinic without resources to care for its neighbors: of the eight health centers in Carabanchel, the most populated district of the capital, seven of them are missing some of their family doctors and/or pediatricians (that is That is, only one of them has a complete template). And in recent weeks, in three of these outpatient clinics the delay in making an appointment with the primary care physician has ranged from three weeks to a month. These unacceptable delays have effects on the health and well-being of many people, abandoned, neglected by the Madrid Administration when their health requires health care. That is why we demand solutions, and that is why the mobilizations continue in defense of health centers and public health.
Among these protests, it is worth highlighting that this summer four people representing the Popular Assembly of Carabanchel undertook a trip of more than 1,600 km with their bicycles that crossed three countries to the UN headquarters in Geneva to let this international organization know about the problem. of public health in the Community of Madrid. In the Swiss capital this delegation met with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with senior officials of the World Health Organization, with the Permanent Mission of Spain to the UN, with the Permanent Mission of Colombia to the UN as well as Swiss media, with NGOs, unions and associations of the Swiss social fabric.
Now, back to Madrid, and after more than a month of field work, collecting direct information and also compiling data from newspapers and databases, on October 10 we presented in the registry of the High Commissioner’s agency for Human Rights of the UN a report with the situation of the public health system in the Community of Madrid and especially in the most abandoned health centers and which have the greatest shortage of personnel. Together with CETIM, a Swiss NGO, we have made this report available to the Special Missions at the UN in more than 190 countries so that they can take it into account when the Spanish State is subjected to the Universal Periodic Review in spring 2025.
The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a mechanism of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The UPR periodically examines the human rights situation in the 193 UN Member States in such a way that each Member State undergoes an analysis of the human rights situation every four and a half years. The mechanism consists of States submitting reports on the measures they have adopted to improve the human rights situation in the country and overcome the challenges that hinder access to those rights. On the other hand, it receives recommendations (based on the contributions of numerous stakeholders and previous reports) prepared by the other Member States.
The report on the situation of public health in Madrid that we have just delivered to international bodies also opens the possibility for the coordinator of neighborhoods and towns Vecinas y Vecinos por la Sanidad Pública and the Carabanchel Assembly itself to be an active part in said Review Universal Newspaper. We thus remain waiting for the development of this mechanism and we will inform you of any new developments that arise in this area.
The policy of dismantling public health crushes and abandons our neighbors, especially the elderly and sick. We now demand the hiring of personnel to meet health needs!
Let’s fight for universal, quality public healthcare, not only for the neighborhood, but for the entire Community of Madrid. We are talking about a question of rights and health. Don’t look at us and join us! For you, for the neighborhood!
