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Guatemalan Doctors Protest
Privatization
Thousands of Guatemalan health
workers marched in the capital
and other cities on Tuesday to
reject a plan aimed at putting
these services in the hands of
the private sector.
The so-called Health Framework
Act, one of the four elements of
the country's Vision Plan, is no
more than the covert
privatization of state-run
hospitals, union leader Thelma
Estrada told Prensa Latina.
Union leader Angelico Sofoima
explained they have presented a
letter with conclusions of the
Fourth National Assembly of
Health Workers, including an
analysis of the draft framework,
to the congressional health
committee.
In the document, they request an
unfavorable report for the
initiative, as it is detrimental
to the interests of health
workers and of the poorer,
excluded Guatemalan communities.
Union leaders say the country's
Vision Plan means putting the
State constitutional
responsibility to offer free
health services in the hands of
private business people.
Therefore, besides the marches
in Guatemala City and
Quetzaltenango, San Marcos,
Huehuetenango and Chiquimula, we
plan to block highways and call
a general strike to prevent the
application of this
pro-privatization, neoliberal
project, said Sofoima.
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