Cristina Garcia Married
Salamanca (EFE).- The white tide of Salamanca has held its most massive demonstration this Sunday, with some 11,000 people in the capital and about 3,000 in Béjar, according to data offered to EFE by the Government Sub-delegation.
«We are very satisfied because it has been the most numerous of those that we have celebrated in these years. Despite the cold, Salamanca has taken to the streets to defend public health, “Diego Cuesta, the spokesman for the Salamanca Platform for the Defense of Public Health, told EFE.
The last white tide, held before the summer of 2022, had been around 5,000 attendees, but the organizers today aspired to recover data from previous editions, when there were between 7,000 and 10,000 protesters. The city of Salamanca has 142,412 inhabitants.
“Today we see figures of between 11,000 and 15,000 people, I would say 15,000 and some more, although for us being in the march it is difficult to count,” explained Cuesta, who encourages the people of Salamanca to “continue fighting for this issue.”
From the platform, convener of the white tide, they ask the Board to pay attention to this citizen movement. “It seems to us that if the Ministry -of Health- does not take note of the existing discomfort in Salamanca due to the situation of Health, it is that they do not want to see it,” said the spokesman.
young people were missing
Despite the massiveness of the call, the lack of young people in the march has been notable and commented on. Salamanca is a city with an aging population but it is also one of the most important university centers in the country.
«It is true that this is not a topic that they are passionate about or attracted to, but as soon as we finished, people from the university who would like to participate in the platform contacted us, that means that there was youth representation, although most of us were older, ”explained Cuesta.
The protest started at 12 noon from the Virgen de la Vega Hospital with banners that included slogans such as “Healthcare is all of us, there is no one left over here, people are needed here” and “Salamanca for public health.”
The march, on this sunny but very cold January morning, took place in an atmosphere of protest but calm, without incident. Among the chants that have been heard were “Public Health, Public Health” and “Ea, ea, ea, Mañueco makes us angry”, alluding to the president of the Board, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco from Salamanca.
In the demonstration, white coats of doctors have been seen, and also T-shirts with the phrase “Health for all, for all.” The PSOE of Salamanca has supported the call, as well as the formations Más País Castilla y León and España Vaciada Salamanca.
toilet leak
One of the health problems most denounced by associations and citizens in Salamanca is “the collapse of the emergency room”, partly because to go to the family doctor “sometimes they make an appointment with up to a week or fifteen days”, as indicated Cost.
“We continue to have the longest waiting lists in Castilla y León, both in interventions and in diagnostic tests,” he pointed out, adding that “there are deficient staff in all professional categories of the hospital.”
The White Tide has called for the demonstration with slogans such as “We have plenty of reasons” and also “Defend your health.” Among these “reasons” are “abandoned primary care” and “privatization of services.”
«In rural Health we see that in many cases between 40% and 60% of the workforce is missing. And in general, we also suffer from the flight of professionals to other provinces and other communities”, indicated Cuesta.
After the success of today’s call, the Salamanca Platform for the Defense of Public Health “will be attentive” to see if the Ministry of Health takes action in the face of the discomfort expressed by the people of Salamanca on the street. EFE
