- In this neighborhood [Bilbao la Vieja], the rate of poverty, exclusion, unemployment and unemployed young people is very high. Now there are two facts that jointly interpret EH Bildu from the neighborhood: Opening of the new hotel located on number 3 of La Merced Street and gradually closing the outpatient or outpatient clinic located right next to it.
The City Council’s PNV team has been chasing the owners of the hotel chain Axel Hotels LGTBI for months. In fact, his president was invited to give a conference at the Euskalduna Palace to make us believe that a gay friendly Bilbao is being built; however, local LGTBI associations say that the city council does not even listen to them. Everything is part of an unscrupulous commercial plan.
But that's not all. The presence of a nearby outpatient clinic would give a very bad image to a hotel for middle and upper class people, continually coming in and out of the neighborhood—for them. That is why they want to close the La Merced outpatient clinic, without taking into account that the elderly in the area, to have a primary care medical consultation, will have to travel to the center of Miribilla.
We, as a group of EH Bildu in the neighborhood, demand the City Council of Bilbao and Osakidetza not only not to close the Merced outpatient clinic, but also to strengthen the service with more health and personal resources. In relation to this demand, we join the Group Coordinator of Bilbao La Vieja, San Francisco and Zabala and encourage the neighbors and the bilbaínos to participate in the collection of signatures "AGAINST EVICTION OF THE CASA DE SALUD DE LA MERCED" that will take place until November 21.