“We cannot take care of others if we are not well”.

In Barcelona, ​​the following events took place on Wednesday two proofs: one of doctors, organized by Metges de Catalunya, which brought together 9,500 doctors, and another of teachers and other health professionals, which brought together some 9,500 doctors. 6,500 people.

Those are the faces of some of those who took part in the first of the two-day strike.

Rocío Sánchez: “Doctors and nurses have the same problems”.

“We are here to support quality public health”, she categorically declares Rocio Sanchez, nurse at CAP Sarrià, in Barcelona. Sánchez participated in the protest of Metges de Catalunya (MC), the main medical union, in which she also took part. there are more nurses. While she is mobilizing at the headquarters of the Conselleria de Salut, in Les Corts, at the other end of the city, in Sant Jaume square, another mobilization takes place. Demonstration of teachers and other health profiles. who are not doctors (and these are organized by minority unions).

Sánchez regrets this separation. “We do separate ‘manis’, but with the same objective. We are all healthcare workers and we all have the same problems,” says this nurse, who harshly criticizes the bureaucracy which constitutes a burden on primary care and occupies up to 40% of a doctor’s or nurse’s working day. “We studied hard to do work on an individual basis and without so much computer work, Sanchez review. He recognizes that more and more patients “complain”. and that healthcare workers no longer enjoy the “recognition” they enjoyed during the pandemic. “And the young people go to work”, concludes.

Marina Gual: “I was fired while I was pregnant”.

The case of Marina Gual, a doctor at CAP Sant Martí, illustrates the precariousness of the Catalan Salvation Institute (ICS). It happened in May of last year. ” I was on sick leave due to occupational hazards, because she is pregnant, and they told me that my position would be canceled because I was acting, ”says this woman from the heart of the demonstration. “I was four months without a contract”.

That’s why this Wednesday, she decided to strike and demonstrate, while pushing her son’s car. “I’m here so we can have decent contracts. We are not a number,” he says. Gual says he loves his job, but the… terms If we are not well ourselves, we cannot take care of others. There is a lot of burnout in the medical profession,” that he gives up.

Roser Termes: “They use the MIRs as a workforce because there are no specialists”.

She holds in her hands a piece of paper that indicates how much a doctor earns in… Germany : 7,000 euros per month, excluding babysitting. Roser Terms, 29 years old, is an interim medical resident (MIR) in surgery at the Clínic Hospital. ” I am here for improve the quality of our work and the training of residents, Explain.

This young woman denounces the fact that the system uses residents as “labour”. “We work long, long hours to to fill gaps in the number of attending physicians, specialist positions that are not filled because there is a lack of staff,” he explains. He recognizes that those who come from abroad are “attractive” salaries, but he rules out leaving because of his family.

Martí Quintana: “We are here for a more dignified future”.

Marti Quintana came from Girona to demonstrate in Barcelona. He is an internist at Doctor from Trueta Hospital. “We demand dignity, we are here for a more dignified future, he says. “For the future which is ours and the present of those who are to be formed now”, he says with combativeness.

Quintana denounces the fact that the MIR are not assured of their “training”. Which are “exploited”. that hours of work and training are “unregulated”. An example is the consultations: “We have a high volume of patients. The other day we had up to 38 patients in a single morning in our practices,” he says. And there is no estimate of our workload either.