Peru: Cusco Doctors on Strike for Better Working Conditions

Peruvian Health workers from Cusco province's state-owned hospitals have been on strike for six days in a row, demanding better working conditions and medical equipment from the government.

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To date, neither Peru's president Francisco Sagasti nor local authorities have attended to their demands.

"This week, we will radicalize the struggle," Peru's Medical Federation President Rodolfo Larota warned and assured that the doctors have not stopped treating the COVID-19 patients despite being on strike.

Workers are calling for a national protest to pressure Sagasti to protect those most at risk, "especially when we are facing the second wave of the pandemic," he recalled.

Doctors are "dying for the shortage of protective equipment. Patients are also dying helplessly due to the lack of medical oxygen and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds," Larota added.

In Peru, ten doctors have died because of COVID-19 this 2021. The number of health professionals killed since the start of the pandemic has risen to 266.

"We ask the government to be concerned about our colleagues. They need to continue saving lives," the doctor said as he informed that Peru reported 3,893 new infections and 60 deaths on Tuesday.