Around 200,000 people took to the streets of Madrid on Sunday in support of the region's public health system. Organizers claim new reforms by the regional government have caused a crisis in Madrid's primary care clinics, leaving staff overworked and underpaid.

Protesters claim primary health care clinics across the region have descended into chaos following the Madrid government's decision to open up to 80 24-hour health centers, without hiring any extra staff.

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Unions say the increased workload has added to a shortage of staff and equipment, forcing many healthcare workers to leave the profession altogether. The protest's coordinator, health worker Luis Lopez, says it is starting to be a struggle to keep people in the profession.

"The problem here is that we find way better working conditions in other regions and other countries so people end up leaving," he told CGTN Europe. "The problem is not that we don't have people willing to work, the problem is that here, they are only offered monthly or weekly contracts, so they leave."

Exodus of Spanish doctors

This protest comes just a few days after an indefinite strike was called also in Madrid by doctors and health personnel working at emergency services.

The new working conditions, added to the fact that doctors in Spain are relatively poorly-paid when compared to their counterparts in Europe, has also resulted in an exodus out of healthcare workers from the country. 

The last decade has seen up to 20,000 Spanish doctors emigrate abroad. Unions say with thousands of doctors set to retire in the next decade, this country could have a serious shortfall of medical staff in the next few years.

That's unless authorities make working in healthcare a much more attractive proposition than it currently stands.