Bolivian health workers announced a general strike in response to the enactment of the health emergency law

The Bolivian National Board of Health (Conasa) announced on Thursday that from Friday to February 28, he goes on general strike against the promulgation of the Health emergency law.

During a press conference, the president of the Bolivian Medical College, Cleto Caceres, read the resolution of the union in which he was “instructs all medical faculties to respect the defined general strike mobilized until February 28“.

As it had already announced on previous occasions, the health union stressed that the measure of pressure is given by “the reluctance of the government to sit down and engage in dialogue with the sector to meet the demand for better health conditions for the population who demand better medical attention every day and who must mourn the death of a loved one every day and us of a colleague ”.

The union urged the government of President Luis Arce that the health emergency law “should be repealed as unconstitutional“.

On this Wednesday evening, President Luis Arce enacted the law despite warnings from health workers of an indefinite strike if the president signed the rule, which is also rejected by the opposition.

The opposition forces Citizen Community and We Believe They wonder if the law approves confidentiality clauses and the recognition of foreign regulations for the purchase of tests, vaccines and drugs, considering that will subtract transparency management of the health crisis and could give way to corruption.

They also warned that with the standard, the national government takes away the autonomy and capacities of regional and municipal governments in health management, contrary to what the Constitution indicates.

CALL FOR DIALOGUE

The Bolivian Ombudsman’s Office regretted Conasa’s decision and called for dialogue between the parties.

“While the health sector’s right to protest is recognized as a vulnerable group against COVID-19, their demands must be reasonable and all avenues of dialogue must be exhaustedThe Office of the Ombudsman said in a statement.

The agency also warned that this pressure measurement may pose a health risk to Bolivians need medical attention due to the coronavirus.

The Ombudsman’s Office considers that the agreements and observations made by the Bolivian Medical Association to the law have been respected by the government, so that they do not find “a point of debate that justifies the measures announced by the health sector“.

However, he recognizes that some biosecurity and protection measures for health workers have been insufficient, for which he asked “the State to guarantee the minimum resources intended to face this type of emergency situations and to demand from the Departmental and Municipal Autonomous Governments so that, within the framework of their competences, they pursue and amplify the attention of these claims. “

For his part, the President of the Senate, the ruling party Andrónico Rodríguez, urged the government and the health sector to develop the regulations of the new standard by consensus.

“I am convinced that the Council of Ministers can convene (the health sector) and they are part of this regulation to be more responsible, so that it benefits not only people, but also health professionals, improving their conditions working, ”Rodríguez said in statements to the media on Thursday.

And he appealed to “the conscience of doctors, health professionals cannot interrupt service in this health crisis, (…) A lot of irresponsibility in the midst of a health crisis to stop the health service, it is inconceivable ”.

The health emergency law establishes various provisions such as price controls for services in private centers, treatments and medicines, the direct hiring of foreign doctors and the prohibition of any mobilization such as strikes by health workers.

Bolivia is facing a second wave of the pandemic since late December, with daily reports that for several days remained above 50 deaths and 2,000 infections.

The country has reported 11,303 deaths and 238,495 infections since March 2020, when the first cases were detected.

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