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The Federal Council should initiate an independent investigation into the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on healthcare workers. This request is contained in an open letter presented to the Federal Chancellery by Amnesty International on Thursday.
The petition was signed by nearly 20 unions, professional associations and NGOs and more than 3,000 people, including 1,500 health workers, according to an Amnesty press release. These include the VPOD, Unia and Syna unions, the association of midwives, the associations of nursing staff and auxiliary and superior doctors.
Although the number of infections due to the coronavirus continues to increase, the undersigned demands from the Federal Council “more transparency and real monitoring of the situation of health workers.” An independent investigation is required of the effects of the crisis on health workers and the measures taken to deal with the crisis.
In view of the above-average representation of women and people of foreign origin in these professions, Amnesty also requires that a gender and origin perspective be included in the analysis.
Protest week announced
A week of protest by the nursing staff will begin next Monday and will end on Saturday 31 October with an action at the Bundesplatz in Bern. “The applause is not enough,” Yvonne Ribi, general director of the professional nurses association, is quoted in the press release.
Nursing staff are calling for specific measures to better cope with the second wave of coronavirus infections and ensure high-quality care in the future. “An independent assessment of the spring crisis is urgently needed so that we have solid data that we can build on.”
