Medical residents join unions for better pay, working conditions
Residents at top teaching hospitals are unionizing, demanding higher wages and better working conditions, reports Twall street journal. Burned out by the pandemic, residents say they are working longer shifts with no overtime pay and no COVID-19 gear. The Council of Interns and Residents (CIR), the largest group representing physicians as well as residency and fellowship programs, said the teaching hospital added five chapters in 2022 and two in 2021. Before the pandemic, it signed about 1 chapter per year.
WHO calls on China to release COVID-19 information
The World Health Organization (WHO) asked China to keep releasing COVID-19 information after the country released its first official death toll on Saturday, weeks before restrictions to combat the disease were imposed. China said nearly 60,000 people had died since early December, according to the Associated Press. The WHO has accused the Chinese government of failing to inform the world of the wave. The United States, South Korea and other countries have imposed controls on tourists from China.
Thousands of Spanish health workers protest better sanitation system
Some 30,000 health workers gathered in Madrid, Spain, on Sunday to protest what they saw as “the sabotage of conservative local governments,” according to Reuters. The protesters accused the Madrid regional government, led by Popular Party Isabel Ayuso, of eliminating public health services in favor of private health providers. Ayuso has denied the allegations and said the protests and strikes were organized by leftist parties seeking to overthrow the conservative regional government on the eve of municipal and regional elections.
