Unions representing Italian doctors
and nurses said a nationwide 24-hour strike called on Wednesday
to protest against the government's 2025 budget bill has been
respected by huge numbers of the country's health workers.
The Anaao Assomed, Cimo-Fesmed and Nursing Up unions said 85% of
medical personnel were taking part in the strike in some parts
of the country.
An estimated 1.2 million healthcare services, including tests,
operations and check-ups, risk being postponed.
"It's an important signal that should lead to a reflection on
the unacceptable working conditions in hospitals and the reasons
for the protest," the unions said.
The unions say the budget allocates "insufficient resources"to
pay rises to staff and complain about an overall lack of
investment in healthcare funding.
Healthcare personnel will also be protesting, among other
things, over the lack of resources to immediately hire more
healthcare workers and the absence of measures to boost security
personnel at Italian hospitals after a wave of assaults reported
over the past few months in Italy.
Premier Giorgia Meloni has said opposition parties have been
spreading "falsehoods" about the bill, saying it gives
unprecedented funding to the national health service.
The government says 6.4 billion euros in extra funding is being
pumped into healthcare over the next two years, taking national
health funding up to all-time highs of 136.48 billion euros in
2025 and 140.6 billion in 2026.
The opposition and some medical associations say that health
spending in relation to GDP is down and argue that the money is
insufficient to meet the sector's needs.
Wednesday's is part of a series of strikes against the 2025
budget.
Rail workers will strike at the weekend and the CGIL and UIL
union confederations have called a general strike on November
29.
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