- As has happened with the gynaecology service, a group of citizens in Lekeitio has been jeopardising their paediatric service and, by the afternoon, they have brought to the streets the favour of decent health services. Marina Entziondo Txakartegi and Patricia Ruiz de Gopegi Martinez, promotoras of the newly created SOS movement in Lekeitio, have talked to them about the decline of health services.
In the village you have been held responsible for the reduction of the services of pediatrics, gynecology and obstetrics and emergency. When did they start fighting?
Marina Entziondo Txakartegi: There was a rumor in the village that after transferring our pediatrician to Bilbao, in Lekeitio we would be without a paediatric service. Many parents have been aware of this in the pediatric consultation itself. That fear and concern existed in the people.
Patricia Ruiz de Gopegi Martínez: We knew the rumor, but we didn't know that the issue was so immediate. In the breastfeeding workshop, a mother gave the first warning, “we have been left without a pediatrician today”, and women felt the need to move before it and we called for the first meeting in the village.
How do you remember the first meeting?
Ruiz de Gopegi: In the first we met about twenty people with concern and desire to move the people.
Convalescent: After analyzing the context and reflecting on the need to do something, as a first step we wrote a complaint, and to put it into value, we started a collection of signatures. About 2,237 signatures have already been collected in Lekeitio and in the localities that receive the service in the Lekeitio outpatient clinic they have also responded very well. It is our intention that these signatures, together with our complaint, be transferred to the Department of Health.
The pediatrician who has been there so far has managed to change to a job in Bilbao. What will happen to the Lekeitio pediatrician's lagoon?
Convalescent: Yes, that is true, the doctor who so far served the children of our people and their environment has obtained another job. The job of Lekeitio is therefore empty and we believe that it will remain empty, because nobody wants to come to our people.
“At Lekeitio we are sold without emergency physicians. We have the nearest hospital an hour and, as if it were not enough, in the village we do not have medicalized ambulances”
Ruiz de Gopegi: Understanding this decision or lack requires, first, a contextual analysis. The pediatrician of Lekeitio has the responsibility of attending to a ratio of 1,021 children, without taking into account that they do not have an individual health card and that in summer, along with three times the population of the town, they should also attend to those who come. Usually a pediatrician takes care of 800 children and in Lekeitio his environment is far outweighed. We'd need a pediatrician and a half in the village, and so far we've been with a half. In view of this, it may be understood that no medical staff are available to cover this post. That is why we believe that Osakidetza has to shoulder responsibilities.
But their demands go beyond the pediatric service. They also emphasize the need for gynecology, obstetrics and emergency services in the municipality.
Convalescent: Yes, it is. The gynecology service, for example, remained guaranteed until 2014, when Osakidetza tried to transfer this service from Lekeitio to Gernika. Thanks to the fighting then by the local women’s group, the City Hall and Osakidetza agreed on an agreement that, at least once every two weeks, the gynecology service should be in the village. At present, this convention is not being complied with and the women of Lekeitio and surrounding areas have to go to the gynecology consultation to Gernika.
Ruiz de Gopegi: During the term of this agreement, there have also been incidents with the gynecology service. Those responsible for Osakidetza have tried on more than one occasion to withdraw the service from the village and the citizens have had to return to the street.
Convalescent: But we citizens cannot be on the streets to repeatedly guarantee our rights, we cannot be every two years with the collection of signatures and mobilizations; our health cannot depend on political decisions, we need decent services in the people.
In the group you also have the responsibility for the lack of a midwife.
Ruiz de Gopegi: We have no guarantee, but the risk is there. We are starting from what we have seen so far to make these statements, because when the midwife has been absent they have not replaced. The midwife we've had for many years in the village is going to retire in a short time, and we find it difficult for a substitute to be put in.
What about emergency services?
Convalescent: We know that there have been days in the town where there have been no doctors in the emergency services, with the risk that this entails. We in our group also wish to denounce this.
“Those of us who live in small villages take us as secondary citizens, but we have no less rights than others.
Ruiz de Gopegi: It is incomprehensible that emergency physicians in Lekeitio go to locations such as Durango, where there are no doctors. At Lekeitio we are sold without emergency doctors. We have the nearest hospital an hour and, as if it were not enough, in the village we do not have medicalized ambulances. I came to live in Lekeitio a few years ago, and until then this reality was strange to me. Those of us who live in small villages take us as secondary citizens, but we have no less rights than others, at all. We have to bring this situation to light, in other peoples they are in a similar situation, we have to come to light.
They have carried out several actions to denounce the lack of health services in the locality. What has been the response of the people so far?
Ruiz de Gopegi: The collection of signatures is being a success, and in the concentration we gather more citizens than expected. Many sports groups and agents have also endorsed our demands. I would venture to say that there is concern among the citizens and they are responding well to the mobilisations, that is a joy.
Convalescent: The response of the citizens is being very good, but those of us who form the engine feel quite alone. We got together five or six women, but we understand that this struggle is the people's struggle. That is why we encourage the public to work with us.
“It’s no coincidence that women join only in the group that is the engine of this struggle. On many occasions we have claimed that care tasks are not exclusive to women, but then in practice it is clearly seen”
Only women form the so-called motor group?
Convalescent: It is a lifelong issue, it is no coincidence that only women meet in the group that motivates this struggle. On many occasions we have claimed that care tasks are not exclusive to women, but then it is clearly seen in practice. There are no fathers in this group.
Ruiz de Gopegi: It is true that men have participated in mobilizations and that is a joy, but behind these mobilizations we are only women, that is the reality.
How long will you continue with these demands?
Ruiz de Gopegi: If we want to achieve something, we must mobilise the people, make noise. It is time to fight, after cutting services it is difficult to recover what has been lost.
Convalescent: The institutions also have a role to play in this matter. We will be on the street and where necessary, but without your support we will hardly achieve anything. We are on the right track, the City Hall also joins our demands, we just need Osakidetza to shoulder its responsibilities.