Group gains support in demands for free health care

Costa Blanca

THOUSANDS of protesters are set to march to the British Consulate in Alicante to press their case for free health care. The Puma22 campaign group set up to fight the decision is gathering steam, with many more worried residents adding their voices to the protest. The campaign started in the Orihuela Costa with the aim of overturning the Valencian Health Authority’s decision to withdraw free health care. The group’s website has been inundated with support from concerned ex-pats, with many facing health bills for hundreds of euros.

By Corry Granger

THOUSANDS of protesters are set to march to the British Consulate in Alicante to press their case for free health care. The Puma22 campaign group set up to fight the decision is gathering steam, with many more worried residents adding their voices to the protest. The campaign started in the Orihuela Costa with the aim of overturning the Valencian Health Authority’s decision to withdraw free health care. The group’s website has been inundated with support from concerned ex-pats, with many facing health bills for hundreds of euros.

Group member Dr Roman Jimenez Gil, a Spanish doctor who is fighting the cause on behalf of Valencia residents, has written to lawyers in a bid to take legal action against the health authority.

He says the withdrawal of health care is illegal and flies in the face of earlier legislation. He also believes that residents here are caught in a ‘mouse trap’, unable to move back to their country of origin due to the fall in house prices here and abandoned by the UK and Valencian governments.

Dr Gil says: ‘Until 2008 the health care was free, so many people from countries, mainly from the UK, decided to take up the offer and sell their houses and come to Valencia to live.  Last year this right was removed and now they will have to pay money for that right.’

People who want to continue receiving health care are being asked to pay 270 euros a quarter, with the fees rising to 330 euros a quarter after retirement.

Campaigners will march to the British Consulate in Alicante on December 10 with a letter to the new Ambassador Mr Giles Paxman, outlining their concerns. Organisers estimate there could be around 10,000 protesters attending, with the number of supporters swelling daily, from areas including Yecla, Castalla, Moraira, Benidorm, Javea and Denia.

For further information about the march please visit the Puma22 website at www.puma22.org