(Citizen Free Press) — A group of Peruvian doctors went on a hunger strike on Tuesday demanding more investment in the health sector and rejecting the country’s handling of the pandemic amid the increase in cases of the second wave of covid-19, according to a statement from the National Medical Union of Social Security of Peru (SINAMMSOP) published on Wednesday.
About a dozen doctors from the national social security union have been protesting in front of Peru’s Ministry of Labor, where the group went on hunger strike on Tuesday.
Fiorella Molinelli, president of Peru’s Social Health Security, has not commented on the SINAMMSOP demands until Thursday. He is currently leading the government’s efforts to adapt temporary covid-19 health and isolation centers to combat the spread of the virus.
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The hunger strike adds to the numerous protests in different parts of the country since last week, where doctors and other health workers are demanding more medical equipment, salary adjustments and an “increase in the budget for the health sector,” according to the Peruvian Medical Federation.
«Our ICUs are collapsing and we are not receiving any response and we are seeing the indifference of a government that allocates the budget to us. We urgently need to acquire this equipment to prevent more Peruvians from dying. The Peruvian State has a constitutional obligation to guarantee the accessibility of health services and right now they are denying access to hospitals because we no longer have the capacity to provide patients with what they need so badly, “the nurse told Reuters on Tuesday. Peruvian Ketty Solier.
Second wave in Peru
Peru now faces a second wave of COVID-19 cases, according to the country’s Health Minister Pilar Mazzetti.
“We are starting with a second wave (of covid-19 cases). This wave is increasing. I can tell you that we did some calculations and we are more or less where we were in mid-April, and the numbers keep going up, “Mazzetti said during an interview with local media on Monday.
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Peru has reported at least 1,073,214 cases of Covid-19, including 39,044 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.