15,000 people rally to defeat Koizumi Cabinet's plan to make people pay more for medical services

On February 14, about 15,000 people from all over the country attended a rally in protest against the government plan to force working people to pay more for medical treatment.

The rally was organized by national medical, social welfare, and trade union organizations, including the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren).

"We are now launching a popular united front for life," said Takayanagi Arata of the Liaison Council of Medical Organizations in the opening remarks.

Speaking on behalf of the organizers, Zenroren President Kobayashi Yoji said that the Koizumi Cabinet is digging its own grave by threatening people's lives and destroying the nation's economy at the same time. He said that the people united can block the government plan for raising the patient share of payment for medical treatment.

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Shii Kazuo said that medical services is a lifeline to people under a major economic recession, and no policy of cutting it can be considered a 'reform.'

Saying that the struggle to defend social services is an integral part of the struggle opposing corporate restructuring, Shii called for a struggle for political change.

As part of participants' speeches, a hospital employee in Hokkaido Prefecture said, "The closure of the last coal mine in Japan caused the 1,000 workers to lose their jobs. They say they want poison rather than medicine if they became ill." (end)