On December 5, students and doctors together in the square for healthcare

Unified demonstration in Rome on December 5 "to defend the right to care and the future of the National Health Service." The women and men of public healthcare will mobilize: doctors, veterinarians, nurses, midwives, health professions, technicians, administrative staff, students, medical and non-medical residents, researchers, together with their professional and union representatives. The march sets off at 3:00 PM from Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II and arrives at Via dei Fori Imperiali. A united front, the organizers explain — 27 organizations including unions and associations — "without distinctions of role or union affiliation, takes to the streets to defend the right to care and the future of the National Health Service." The NHS, they state, "belongs to everyone: to those who provide care every day and to those who need to be cared for. Today this common good is weakened by years of policies marked by insufficient investment in the population's health and by a lack of recognition for hospital, outpatient, and territorial staff, as well as those in training and in research. The ones paying the price are the citizens — that is, all of us." And further: "To those who work and study in healthcare we say: you are not alone. To those waiting for an appointment, hospital admission, or assistance we say: it cannot be a lottery. Health cannot depend on income or place of residence: the right to care and the right to provide care exist." On December 5, the joint statement reads, "public healthcare will be there to make itself heard, marching with the pride of being the National Health Service and with the firm conviction that the system must be defended and strengthened. Driving this mobilization are the hope and determination to make all of this possible again, because the NHS is and will be us." The initiative is open to all citizens who want to take to the streets "to defend public healthcare." Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA