He La Milagrosa health center Jerez is once again the destination of a massive protest by healthcare workers against cuts and non-compliance by the SAS on a day marked by these protests throughout Andalusia.
SATSE, CSIF, CCOO and UGT have returned with demonstrations to the streets, this time in different health centers in the eight Andalusian provinces, to continue demanding compliance with the agreements agreed upon more than a year ago, by the Primary Care and Professional Career Pact, the Stock Market of Employment of the SAS and the dismissals of temporary workers.
According to the unions, despite the fact that last week, after the unions resumed the protests, the SAS announced through a statement a meeting “soon” with “concrete proposals”, the union organizations continue without receiving a summons for said meeting, due to which, given the inaction that the Ministry of Health has maintained until now, does not believe in these statements.
Presence of PSOE, IU and neighborhood associations
Union leaders such as Alberto Puyana, from CSIF, and José Antonio Alconchel, from SATSE, were present at the rally, and he lamented that the counselor “not only lies” but also “has no intention of reaching an agreement or negotiation with anyone.” “in what he considers “clear contempt for professionals, citizens and union representatives“about a right, that of public health, “that we should all have.”
In the social and neighborhood sphere, the Neighborhood Coordinator of Users of the Northwest District Health Center has also attended, with the presence of neighbors and neighborhood leaders from the city and the province. For his part, the representative of the AVV Solidaridad Federation, Manuel Cazorla, announces that a meeting will be called large demonstration in Jerez in protest against the deterioration of public health in Andalusia.
“We have to take steps forward, we have the rights and they have the obligations. We lack doctors, people from Administration, it cannot become that Health Responds is not responsible, it rains and it blows, the elderly have to come and get numbers. We will do everything possible to make this change a little,” explains Cazorla.
In Jerez, the protest has also had the presence and political support of Carmen Collado, from the PSOE, and the provincial coordinator of IU Cádiz, Jorge Rodríguez, and the councilor of the party in Jerez, Raúl Ruiz-Berdejo.
Carmen Collado, from the PSOE, says she has the “feeling that it is going to get worse.” “Professionals are exhausted, many people are going to die due to the closure of the stroke unit,” he explains. For his part, Ruiz-Berdejo explains that he joins the concentration “because we have to put our foot down once and for all. The cuts What the PP government does in the Junta is costing human lives; professionals and users are mobilized”.
The territorial Health delegate of the Board responds: “We are complying with everything”
The territorial delegate of Health, Eva Pajares, has sent a statement to the media where she states that she “respects” the right of workers to demonstrate “but thatand from the SAS the agreements are being complied with in a timely manner“. “This historic pact for Primary Care that was reached in 2023 has a series of demands and they are all being met,” he says.
In addition, remember that there is time until December 31, 2024 to “comply with what they believe is not being done” and that the counselor has sat down with all the unions and will do it again. “We have complied and we have even annulled the pricing order in Primary Care. We said that 25% of the Budget was going to go to Primary Care and we have complied with it, since it has increased to 36%.”
On the other hand, he maintains that they committed to a limit of 35 patients per day, 25 in the case of pediatricians. “We are complying, as of July 2024 the average for appointments is that. We also said that care continuities would be open, voluntary and permanent and we are doing it,” he adds.
“We are working on a decree to cover places in areas that are difficult to cover,” says the territorial Health delegate. Pajares also remembers that there is an open competition without the need for an exam for stabilization. In addition, remember that health equipment has been renewed and that work is being done on infrastructure and the employment pool.
“The covid places are no longer healthcare reinforcement, we have expanded the workforce by more than 2,800 places,” he concludes, recalling that the temporary employment pool is going to be opened permanently, complying with the “promise and demand” of the health workers. “Each and every one of the demands that were signed in that historic 2023 agreement are being fulfilled,” he concludes.
“Agreements are to be fulfilled”
For their part, SATSE, CSIF, CCOO and UGT express that the agreements, unlike what the Board maintains, are not being fulfilled and assure that they will continue with the announced calendar of mobilizations, continuing with the protests next week, since Andalusian public health will not be allowed to continue being dismantled.
The four unions consider that The Ministry of Health is carrying out an “unprecedented non-compliance”so they will not abandon the protests until the agreement is fulfilled, since this situation is harming both professionals and users of the system.
“It is urgent to resolve this conflict for the well-being of professionals, users and for the proper functioning of the health system in Andalusia,” say in a statement the unions, which have gathered under the banner “the agreements are to be fulfilled.”