Doctors to strike on December 5

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 7 - Unions representing Italian doctors on Tuesday called a 24-hour strike throughout the country on December 5 in protest over provisions contained in the 2024 budget bill affecting the medical sector, including pension cuts.
    The strike has been called by the unions ANAAO ASSOMED and CIMO-FESMED, which announced a state of agitation last Tuesday. "We are talking about a cut in the pension allowance of at least 50,000 people, amounting to up to 26,347 euro per year for life," the unions said on that occasion.
    "If, with this budget, the government intends to push doctors further away from the national health service, we will gladly lend them a hand," said ANAAO ASSOMED Secretary Pierino Di Silverio and CIMO-FESMED President Guido Quici.
    "And when patients who go to hospital find even fewer professionals to treat them, they will know who to blame," they added.
    Former health minister Roberto Speranza of the centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) has also criticised the proposed "recalculation mechanism leading to a significant reduction in doctors' pensions".
    "From heroes of the pandemic to pension snatching: it is a real disgrace that must be remedied as soon as possible," he added.
    (ANSA).