VIDEO : ACT UP Protests Against Mt. Sinai For Failing To Provide PEP HIV Prevention Medication

Mount Sinai Hospital refuses emergency HIV prevention treatment -- AIDS activists target hospital with street protest.

ACT UP has produced a toolkit about Post Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) as part of ACT UP's HIV emergency prevention campaign.

ACT UP Will Protest Mt. Sinai Over HIV/AIDS Medication Discrimination

Updated : Video of ACT UP Protest Against Mt. Sinai's denial of PEP treatment.

ACT UP Calls For July 17 Protest Against Mt. Sinai Hospital

From EDGE New York :

As the result of an alleged case of HIV discrimination, ACT UP has called all activists to gather in front of Mt. Sinai Hospital in Manhattan at noon on Wednesday, July 17. The planned demonstration is the consequence of an event that occurred over the July 4th weekend, when the hospital reportedly refused to treat a man who came into the emergency room requesting Post Exposure Phrophylaxis for possible exposure to HIV.

"Emergency room personnel at Mt. Sinai incorrectly informed the man that there was no such treatment," read their July 16 press release. "The man contacted ACT UP/New York who intervened on his behalf with Mt. Sinai. Precious time was lost -- approximately two hours -- before the hospital treated him."

Read more : ACT UP Calls For July 17 Protest Against Mt. Sinai Hospital

Thousands March in Spain Against Healthcare Privitisation

AP VIDEO: Thousands march in Madrid to protest plans to privatize parts of regional public health care system.

Big protests in Spain against health care reforms (The sign reads : "I'm a patient, I'm a voter.")
By HAROLD HECKLE Associated Press
Updated: 02/17/2013 12:41:01 PM EST

Protesters march as they hold a banner reading "Health care system not for sale" during a demonstration against regional government-imposed austerity plans to restructure and part-privatize the health care sector in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Feb. 17, 2013. Madrid proposes selling off the management of six of 20 public hospitals and 27 of 268 health centers. Spain's regions are struggling with a combined debt of $190 billion as the country's economy contracts into a double-dip recession triggered by a 2008 real estate crash. ((AP Photo/Andres Kudacki))

MADRID—Thousands of demonstrators marched through the streets of 16 Spanish cities Sunday to protest plans to part-privatize the public health care system, with some questioning the government's motives.

It was the third "white tide" demonstration in Madrid, named after the color of the medical scrubs many protesters wear. But it was the first time cities other than the capital took part, including Barcelona, Cuenca, Murcia, Pamplona, Toledo and Zaragoza. Protesters marched carrying banners saying "Public health is not to be sold, it's to be defended."

Health care and education are administered by Spain's 17 semiautonomous regions. Some indebted ones, like Madrid, have announced the part-privatization of some services, with some people openly suspicious that the move is more a political-motivated ploy than an attempt to cut costs.

Civil servant Javier Tarabilla, 31, said Spain's welfare state was being dismantled to be handed over to the private sector.

"This is pillaging of our public services, looting something we've all contributed to through taxes, to give it to private companies to run for profit," he said.

Madrid regional health councilor Javier Fernandez-Lasquetty has called the protests irresponsible, saying public money savings were essential to lift Spain out of debt and onto the road of economic recovery.

"These protests create conflict and are not in the interest of public health, but they do favor the interests of those who organize them," Fernandez-Lasquetty said.

Andrew Cuomo's Public Health Perfect Storm

New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo will be using the 2013-2014 state budget to help turn the Buffalo Bills NFL team around. Gov. Cuomo announced that the state would extend $60 million to the "floundering franchise."

"The Buffalo Bills are staying in New York, that's the good news," Gov. Cuomo told City & State. "All I can tell you is for $60 million, the Bills better win this year."

• Gov. Cuomo Orders Audit Of SUNY Downstate Hospital That Blames The Hospital For Treating Medicaid Patients And For Merging Together : "Mr. DiNapoli also blamed competition for patients, over-reliance on Medicaid revenues despite cuts in financing and the ill-advised acquisition of two hospitals, Victory Memorial Hospital in July 2008 and Long Island College Hospital, known as LICH, in May 2011. 'Consultant studies used as justification for the purchase were based on flawed, unrealistic business assumptions,' according to Mr. DiNapoli," The New York Times reported.
• Leery Of A Merger Being Thrust Upon It By Cuomo And Stephen Berger, InterFaith Hospital In Brooklyn Plans To Declare Bankruptcy : A year ago, a Brooklyn work group of the governor’s Medicaid Redesign Team, which was created to find savings in the hospital and health industry, recommended that Interfaith merge with two other Brooklyn hospitals, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center and Brooklyn Hospital.
• Angel Investors Trying To Save Westchester Square Medical Center, Because Andrew Cuomo Is Using Your Tax Dollars To Bailout An NFL Team : ... "A last-minute competing offer has emerged from a group of real-estate investors, who are offering to pay $14.4 million for the hospital's assets and lease it back to the hospital, which would continue to operate as a nonprofit with the same board of directors," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Many of the hospitals, which were damaged by Hurricane Sandy, have not fully recovered. And public health has been compromised by the ongoing spree of hospital closings under Gov. Cuomo and his henchman, the mean old man Stephen Berger. Add to that the flu epidemic, and you have all the makings of a perfect storm in public health.

Occupy Sandy Protest Near Mayor Mike Bloomberg's Mansion

Several hundred citizens affected by Hurricane Sandy, healthcare professionals, activists, and members of Occupy Sandy relief effort participated in a rally and march near Fifth Avenue and East 79th Street to protest what organisers said was a lack of care and concern by New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Hospitals that were evacuated due to hurricane damage have not reopened, and hurricane survivors are dealing with mold, no heat, no hot water, and no electricity in the winter. Healthcare professionals describe conditions that could lead to a public healthcare crisis. Yet, rally participants kept asking, "Where is Mayor Bloomberg?"

It wasn't confirmed, but many people speculated that Mayor Bloomberg could be spending this weekend in his palatial compound in the tropical island of Bermuda.

This independent video was made in solidarity with rally organizers to educate the public about Mayor Michael Bloomberg's lack of care and concern for survivors of Hurricane Sandy, and this video includes information about Bill Rudin : another billionaire, who also bears responsibility for some of the issues raised by some rally participants.

Read also : Nurses Will Picket Mayor Bloomberg's Mansion

For more information about hurricane relief efforts, please visit : http://interoccupy.net/occupysandy/

Stop Rudin Condos Petition

Health Petition : Mayor Michael Bloomberg : Stop the Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Plan

Sign Our Petition ! The Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Plan will set a dangerous public health precedent. City politicians would be saying that a top 1% real estate developer can make hundreds of millions of dollars in private profit by converting the charitable public real estate buildings of the former St. Vincent's Hospital, whilst the 99% have no replacement Level One Trauma Center or Full-Service Hospital. If Rudin's Condo Plan is approved, Mayor Bloomberg would be saying that it is O.K. for an entire section of New York City to have no full-service hospital. How can this be a responsible public health care policy ? Mayor Bloomberg needs to stop the Rudin Condo Plan for St. Vincent's Hospital until a full-service hospital is created.