pic: Claudio Bresciani/TT
“The section is closed,
and the patient is dead,
“but everything’s fine”
the hospital board said.” *
So went the poem (roughly translated, and with a good dose of poetic license) by medical student Alexander Radkiewicz, at the demonstration protesting hospital staff layoffs in front of the parliament building in Stockholm today (SvD.se/demo). As written about earlier, in this blog post, a total of 1350 layoffs have been announced over the last several months, and an additional budget cut to the tune of 1.1 billion kronor has been mandated by Stockholm Region council.
The facebook group behind the demonstration has 16,000 members. “The younger people are the ones that are the first to be affected by the layoffs” said Laura Björnström to SvD. “This can wipe out an entire generation in health care” added Akil Awad, one of the demonstration organisers. “You hear it all the time – it’s like a mantra – that patient safety isn’t at all threatened (by these layoffs)” he continued. “But for us who are there working, we see that it is. We see it all the time.”
Anna Starbrink, Region Stockholm councilperson responsible for healthcare, told SvD that she understands the tough situation: “Obviously, a lot of thoughts go through one’s head when you see such a demonstration. At the same time, you need to remember that it’s fantastic that so many are so engaged in the healthcare issue.”
Be sure to remember that, next time you need health care in Stockholm.
* “avdelningen är stängd/och patienten är död/men på patientsäkerheten går det iiiiingen nöd“