April 7th is World Health Day. We call upon all trade unions, health unions around the world to commemorate it as it should be. With mobilizations, in all forms, against the degradation and commercialization of the public health system. For a public health system that satisfies the modern needs of the workers. For an exclusively public health system.
To say a big NO to the hospital business profit logic. To say a big NO to the huge shortages of health care staff. To say a big NO to the lack of infrastructure and technological equipment. We must say a big NO to the development of entrepreneurship, competitiveness, and profitability, because all this is dangerous for the people, in the health sector, which is saved thanks to the great sacrifice of health doctors, nurses, and paramedics.
The bourgeois parties in the European Union recently voted to make the people pay 800 billion euros in the war economy. Now they have decided to grab the reserves of the social security funds, about 10 trillion, to finance the war monopolies with them as well. This will also have a big impact on the workers’ social security rights, trying to raise the retirement age to 74, by attacking pensions, etc.
The health unions and the working class as a whole have fought and are fighting for health as a social good and not a commodity. Let us recall the struggles of the pandemic period with the slogan “covered mouths have a voice”. The battles that were fought despite intimidation, authoritarianism, and repression by governments.
When capital talks about ” wasteful spending” and ” rationalisation ” of expenditure, ” saving money ” in health, behind all this is the direction of reducing state expenditure on people’s health. This means the people have to dig deep into their pockets and pay a high price to private health care, which earns billions. Along with this, the medicine prices have skyrocketed since they are controlled by the big monopolies that produce whatever they see as profitable, leaving even countries in need without aid (remember COVID-19, where vaccines were exempted from certain countries, and people were dying).
It is necessary for the trade unions, the class-oriented workers’ movement, to fight to put the brake on their plans. We must come forward and demand all that is needed to match benefits with popular strata’s needs in prevention, treatment, recovery, rehabilitation, and pharmaceutical care, provided by the state, free of charge.
The logic of cost-benefit for the interests of a handful of business groups cannot prevail in the health system. That is why we are clearly saying that we should get rid of the system of exploitation in order to solve the people’s problems.
We are intensifying the struggle against the policy that treats our health and human life as a cost, until it is finally overturned. We intensify the struggle to make health a guaranteed social good, not a commodity.
For a universal, exclusively public, and free Health-Welfare system.
- Full, adequate, exclusive state funded public health-welfare units.
- Massive recruitment of permanent, full-time staff in all sectors and specialties in public hospitals, health centres, and other health and welfare units.
- The permanent employment of all workers working on temporary, flexible employment relationships (contract workers, auxiliary workers) without terms and conditions. No dismissal of contract workers in cleaning, security, catering. To be hired with permanent employment and full rights.
- Full staffing of the rapid intervention units with permanent staff as needed. Renew their fleet by deploying the necessary number of ground, water and air ambulances.
- No involvement of NGOs, contractors, private individuals in Health – Welfare – Special Education and Rehabilitation.
