Personnel in a Laeken university hospital will go on strike from 20:00 on Wednesday until 7:00 on Friday, a representative for the CSGP union confirmed. The medical and intensive-care-unit staff of Brugmann University hospital are striking to bring attention to a lack of resources, which they say have a negative impact on their working conditions and hinder the quality of their medical care.
Other demands include a reevaluation of their salaries and an integral reimbursement of their transport expenses, as well as more medical staff to be hired.
Medical staff have been calling for collective action against austerity in hospitals, with one demonstration in March prompting Brugmann's administrative leadership to establish a working group to try to find a common solution.
The measures proposed were nevertheless seen as insufficient by medical personnel, who during the strike have also planned a gathering in front of the hospital on Thursday morning.
"During the meetings, [they] admit that there is an underfunding problem in Brussels' public health establishments," one union representative said, adding that the hospital's leadership was nevertheless "hiding" behind Brussels public hospital network IRIS.
The Brussels Times
