Health workers strike over contracts row enters fifth week

(27 Dec 2012) 1. Various of protest, demonstrators holding banners reading (Spanish) "No (to cuts)" 2. Close up of woman wearing a hat reading (Spanish) "Public Health System R.I.P." 3. Wide of protest 4. Police, protesters in front 5. Wide of protest 6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Barbara, no last name given, nurse: "The amount of professionals is going to decrease, which means fewer human resources, also fewer material resources, and all that is going to affect the citizens. If someone needs a medical test maybe now they will think twice before they request it for you." 7. Various of protest 8. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Sergio Varga, nurse: "The first thing we are going to notice is the (decrease in) quality of care, that will be the first consequence. Long term consequences will be a higher mortality index, a longer prevalence of diseases, all that combined with a worsening quality of care always. Always." 9. Tilt from woman chanting through speaker to wide shot of protest 10. Wide of protest STORYLINE: Doctors in the Spanish capital continued to strike for a fifth consecutive week against the privatisation of public hospitals and health centres. Approximately 300 public health workers protested on Thursday outside the Regional Health Ministry against the precariousness work contracts. With few days to go until the end of the year, many doctors and nurses say they don't yet know if their contracts will be renewed after December 31. Nurse Sergio Varga said the proposed reforms to the health system would mean a decrease in the quality of care. "Long term consequences will be a higher mortality index, a longer prevalence of diseases," he added. Health care and education are administered by Spain's 17 semi-autonomous regions rather than the central government and Madrid proposes selling off the management of six of 20 large public hospitals and 27 of 268 health centres. Spain's regions are struggling with a combined debt of 145 billion euros (190 billion US dollars) as the country's economy contracts into a double-dip recession triggered by a 2008 real estate crash. Madrid's government, under regional president Ignacio Gonzalez, maintains cuts and sell-offs are needed to secure health services during a deep recession. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...