(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 20 - Unions representing Italian doctors and nurses said a nationwide 24-hour strike called on Wednesday to protest against the government's 2025 budget bill has been respected by huge numbers of the country's health workers.
    The Anaao Assomed, Cimo-Fesmed and Nursing Up unions said 85% of medical personnel were taking part in the strike in some parts of the country.
    An estimated 1.2 million healthcare services, including tests, operations and check-ups, risk being postponed.
    "It's an important signal that should lead to a reflection on the unacceptable working conditions in hospitals and the reasons for the protest," the unions said.
    The unions say the budget allocates "insufficient resources"to pay rises to staff and complain about an overall lack of investment in healthcare funding.
    Healthcare personnel will also be protesting, among other things, over the lack of resources to immediately hire more healthcare workers and the absence of measures to boost security personnel at Italian hospitals after a wave of assaults reported over the past few months in Italy.
    Premier Giorgia Meloni has said opposition parties have been spreading "falsehoods" about the bill, saying it gives unprecedented funding to the national health service.
    The government says 6.4 billion euros in extra funding is being pumped into healthcare over the next two years, taking national health funding up to all-time highs of 136.48 billion euros in 2025 and 140.6 billion in 2026. The opposition and some medical associations say that health spending in relation to GDP is down and argue that the money is insufficient to meet the sector's needs.
    Centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Elly Schlein said "he Democratic Party will not stand by and watch the dismantling of public healthcare.
    "We will continue the mobilization in defence of the NHS, we will continue to go to places of care to meet doctors, nurses and healthcare personnel who are in difficulty".
    Wednesday's is part of a series of strikes against the 2025 budget.
    Rail workers will strike at the weekend and the CGIL and UIL union confederations have called a general strike on November 29. (ANSA).