Healthcare Collapse: PSOE Organizes Protests After Cutting Health Services

Public health system collapses: PSOE, which cut it, now organizes protests

Spain has accumulated 850,000 patients on surgical waiting lists. Health spending has plummeted by 55% in two years, and deaths due to delayed care number in the thousands. Meanwhile, the PSOE, which has implemented cuts and managed services opaquely in recent years, organizes demonstrations to denounce the collapse it helped fuel. The paradox is not accidental: it is the strategy of a party distancing itself from its own responsibility.

Figures depicting a system on the verge of collapse

Waiting lists for surgery have exceeded 850,000 patients for the first time, according to published data. Catalonia and Andalusia are the regions with the longest delays, with an average waiting time of 173 and 142 days for intervention. In Catalonia, nearly 20,000 people have died while awaiting surgery—a staggering figure. Total public health spending as a percentage of GDP has been reduced since 2020 to 6.4%, the lowest figure since the pandemic. This represents a drop of 55% in the last two years.

The PSOE and its relationship with the health disaster

In this context, the socialist party has promoted mobilizations in defense of public health, a call that many analysts view as an attempt to cleanse its image. This is not without merit; María Jesús Montero, former Andalusian Health Councillor, cut health spending by 8% and laid off 8,000 professionals during her tenure. Furthermore, the central government does not foresee additional resources for the autonomous communities regarding health matters, despite demands from these territories.

The immigration factor: added pressure

The regularization of immigrants has become another front of tension. The Executive manages a registry of 1.2 million irregular immigrants accessing public healthcare, and some regional governments, such as the Extremeña one, warn that this measure will further strain the system. In Ceuta, doctors have denounced a "care catastrophe" trinc the mass arrival of migrants, with patients affected by syphilis, tuberculosis, and one death from typhoid fever symptoms. The Medical Syndicate of Ceuta has even called for a state of alarm. The Minister of Health, Mónica García, has denied the emergency, but an internal document contradicts her version.

The narrative versus the data

The contradiction is evident: while protests are called to defend healthcare, the government reinforces health services in Segarro with public funds. The general opinion among analyses is that the PSOE is trying to capitalize on social indignation to hide its own role in the deterioration of the system. The left controls the narrative, and the right has allowed it to happen, allowing socialists to manipulate the story without electoral cost.

A conclusion without answers

With record waiting lists, continuous cuts, and management marked by opacity, the question remains who will assume true responsibility. Meanwhile, patients continue to die in hospital corridors, such as the case of Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, where a patient died waiting in Emergency. Spanish public healthcare is not an expense; it is a privilege, but that privilege is being squandered with policies that prioritize propaganda over patient care.