Over 140 UK doctors blas gov't record on NHS
More than 140 senior doctors in the UK have slammed the Tory-led coalition government’s management of the health service, saying funding cuts and destructive legislation have made the sector weaker than ever before.
The doctors made the remarks in a letter published by the British daily The Guardian on Tuesday.
The letter criticizes the coalition government’s handling of the National Health Service (NHS) and opposes the current pressures facing the sector.
The signatories said the NHS has come under pressure due to unnecessary market-oriented changes to the services, including privatization of certain parts.
According to the doctors, the NHS “is withering away and if things carry on as they are, then in future people will be denied care they once had under the NHS and have to pay more for health services.”
“Privatization not only threatens coordinated services, but also jeopardizes training of our future healthcare providers and medical research, particularly that of public health,” the doctors added.
In addition, the letter condemns the government’s NHS reorganization under the Health and Social Care Act passed by the parliament in 2012, saying the reforms is “already leading to the rapid and unwanted expansion of the role of commercial companies in the NHS.”
The reorganization is affecting patients in Britain as “dozens of accident and emergency departments and maternity units have been closed or earmarked for closure or downgrading. In addition, 51 NHS walk-in centers have been closed or downgraded in this time, and more than 60 ambulance stations have shut and more than 100 general practices are at risk of closure.”
The doctors called for the cancellation of “all the damaging sections” of the act, saying “reversing this costly and inefficient market bureaucracy alone will save significant sums.
Under Prime Minister Cameron, the NHS has suffered the longest period of funding restraint in its 66-year history, resulting in the layoff of over 7,000 NHS clinical staff members, including doctors and nurses.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has defended the NHS reorganization, saying the “structural changes are saving the NHS more than £1 billion a year.”
CAH/NN/HRB
Oxford students protest against Gaza genocide
UCL campus protests
Five taken to hospital after stabbing attack in northeast London
Four Israeli forces killed in Gaza City as fighting rages
'UK flown 200 spy missions over Gaza in support of Israel'
UN General Assembly resolution urges fresh vote on Palestinian statehood
US campus protests: Columbia affiliate college fully divests from Israel
Iran among top producers of radiopharmaceuticals, high-quality heavy water: AEOI chief
Israel’s Rafah incursion to result in 'humanitarian disaster': UN Chief
VIDEO | Gaza aid operations at risk of imminent shutdown, UN agencies warn
Israel downplays Biden’s threat of freezing arms supplies
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
