People dressed in white

Doctors, nurses and residents dedicated to treating covid-19 patients accuse negligence by the government.

Yesterday 60 doctors, nurses and administrative employees, the majority from the state of Chiapas, protested at the national headquarters of the National Institute of Health for Well-being (Insabi), since they say they lack labor guarantees and have not yet received the bonuses offered by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Before Christmas, the medical personnel of the General Hospital of Ensenada were also forced to demonstrate in front of their workplace to claim the failure to pay several fortnights, the promised bonuses and the Christmas bonus.

Nurse Paola Mendoza claimed: “there are many losses of life, our colleagues have left and still no one does anything … It is right that now they turn to see us” (Karla Padilla. The watchman. 17.12.20).

Around the same time, Valeria Chávez accepted the news with anguish that her contract as a nurse at the General Hospital of Cancun, in Quintana Roo, would not be renewed. According to the same source, another 100 health professionals in that entity, dedicated to treating covid patients, will suffer the same fate. Chávez adds: “our problem is not local but federal, because Insabi… promised that they would give us places” (Erika Flores. The Broken Chair. 22.12.20).

The resident doctors of the Eduardo Liceaga General Hospital of Mexico have also raised their voices: “They have us in the front line and we are not their priority for vaccination.” In a communication signed by 62 residents, these personnel oppose the criteria of the protocol provided by the authority.

Another similar complaint came from the medical staff at La Raza hospital, where only 22 doses arrived last week. Under the slogan “Vaccine to the operation, not the manager”, the workers of that hospital demanded that the priorities be reviewed (Infobae. 27.12.20).

Zoom: During this year the people dressed in white should have deserved the maximum possible support. Facing the crisis that is expected for 2021, it is urgent that the complaints from very different regions of the country achieve a better outlet.

@ricardomraphael