In China, the Covid wave accelerated by the lifting of health restrictions. Hospitals are under pressure. And in this context, medical students are protesting. They want to go on leave or better wages.
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stephane Lagarde
Decidedly, the demonstrations pay, in China. For the second time in less than a month, a social movement has obtained a response from the authorities other than strict repression.
The protests took place in several cities across the country, from Jiangxi in the southeast to Sichuan in the west. Three main demands among these young interns called to the front line of the battle against the epidemic: first better protection against illness, then the possibility of taking leave, finally for those who must stay, to be better paid.
Equal pay, equal work!
This slogan ” equal pay, equal work! was heard in particular at Huaxi Medical University in Sichuan. As with almost every student movement, the management did not believe their ears.
She went down to see the students, being offended: ” We have not seen such a challenge for a hundred years! “, which had already been heard in some establishments last month during demonstrations against the “zero Covid” policy.
But this reaction of the hierarchy did not change anything, quite the contrary, with the determination of the protesters. Anger reinforced after the death of a 23-year-old intern victim of cardiac arrest on Wednesday, while he had been working for several days with a fever, according to Internet users, comments denied by the hospital.
To appease the spirits, a university in Nanjing has granted a stipend of 10,000 yuan (1,350 euros) to those who remain, according to the South China Morning Post. The establishment also made it known that the Covid control and prevention measures were going to be “ improved “.
In Wuhan, Huazhong University of Science and Technology has decided to let students go on winter vacation. This does not solve the problem of Chinese hospitals facing an unprecedented Covid-19 tsunami, which affects patients and staff alike.