Manoeuvre, doctors and medical staff go on strike tomorrow: 15,000 surgeries at risk of postponement

One day before the national strike of hospital doctors and nurses against the Budget Law 2025, scheduled for tomorrow 20 November, the medical and health professions unions are on the warpath.

There are 1.2 million health services that could be skipped due to the strike. At risk are all services, including laboratory tests, surgeries (about 15 thousand scheduled ones that could be postponed), specialist examinations (100 thousand), nursing and midwifery services, also at home, and X-ray examinations (50 thousand). Emergency services will in any case be guaranteed.

The fronts of confrontation

Between professional associations and the government there is an open clash on various fronts, from the abuse of preceptions for participation in the demonstration to the planned recruitment of thousands of nurses from abroad, from the funding of the specificity allowance to the new recruitments postponed until 2026. The strike was proclaimed by the unions Anaao and Cimo and the nurses' organisation Nursing Up. The context, however, is one of widespread and general dissatisfaction. The text of the manoeuvre, considered 'disappointing' by the unions, 'confirms the reduction in funding for healthcare compared to what has been announced in recent weeks and changes the cards on the table compared to what has been proclaimed for months,' say the medical organisations.

Another front is also opening up in view of the strike. Coina, the health professions union, denounces the Gemelli Foundation's abuse of preceptorship during the demonstration. 'Not only a violation of rights, but a deliberate attack to hinder a legitimate strike,' says Coina national secretary Marco Ceccarelli, referring to Gemelli's decision to precept non-essential sectors. The Prefecture, Coina recalls, confirmed the breach of contract: 'The authorities agree with us, clarifying that only emergency services are to be guaranteed,' says Ceccarelli. As for the arrival of foreign nurses, for Nursing Up it is "a buffer measure on a deep wound, especially considering the number of Italian colleagues abroad who would return under decent contractual conditions". The measure does not resolve "the lack of economic and contractual enhancement at the root of the abandonment and disaffection of young people towards our educational paths, nurses stress, asking why the government "has postponed the recruitment plan to 2026".