Mass protest

The Orihuela district of San Bartolomé was the scene of a mass protest yesterday as five thousand people gathered on the high street to walk to Vega Baja Hospital under the platform 'Vega Baja Salud'.

The people came from the municipalities of the area; Benejúzar, Catral, Jacarilla and Bigastro and from districts like Rincón de Bonanza.The political parties were also well represented with politicians from the PP and the PSOE.

What the group are demanding from the Catalan Autonomous Government is a vast improvement in the medical services for the area. They want an end to “the interminable” delays for diagnosis and operations, they don't want patients having to be sent of to other hospitals for treatment and they want epidurals to be available to women in childbirth. They urgently demand their own Oncology Unit and the technological advances that exist in other hospitals.

I'm not suggesting that these people are wrong to protest but our experience of the health service in Spain so far has been excellent and compares favourably with the treatment we received in England.