This article is reprinted from the Speak Out Now healthcare newsletter at Kaiser and Highland Hospitals in Oakland, CA.
Last Monday, January 6th, healthcare care workers in the Bay Area and across the country called attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza by calling out sick from work in large numbers–known as a “sickout.” The act was organized by a coalition called Doctors Against Genocide, with the intent of showing just how tired healthcare workers are of the continuous attack on Palestinian people and healthcare workers. In Gaza, only 16 out of 36 hospitals are left standing, all of them with less than minimal resources equipped to attend the growing number of victims of Israel’s attacks.
The action lead to a thousand people rallying in front of San Francisco General Hospital, with one of the banners that read “Our Taxes Turn Hospitals into Mass Graves.” The protests also lead to a rally at Stanford campus, where healthcare workers set up a pop-up clinic for the treatment of “sickness from genocide”.
These actions show how healthcare workers have a stake in opposing this inhumane genocide perpetrated by Israel. We don’t need to stand idly by, our collective action to stop this genocide matters.
Click here to read the article printed in the 01-15-25 Healthcare Newsletter
