Students nearing the finish line for medicine school took to the streets of the Lima, Peru on Tuesday, May 4 to demand biosafety conditions, delivery of protective equipment, health and life insurance, payment of the minimum vital remuneration and to be included in the list to receive the vaccine against COVID-19 from the government and health authorities.

Alexander Urbina, secretary General of the Federation of Medical Students of Peru [2:17-2:41], said: “What the health ministry has established is that the budget only reaches until December and they will grant us 400 soles (135 USD, less than half of a minimum vital salary in Peru), 400 soles that would not reach, in the case of the university or the health ministry couldn't cover that. We are not here protesting because we do not want to enter and fight against this pandemic. We want to enter now but with the necessary security.”

Maylin Vilcatoma, a dental student at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos [2:42-2:58] said: “What we ask is the payment for all health sciences careers, without discrimination of the fifth or upper third, of a minimum vital remuneration (930 soles or 248 USD). We ask for PPEs for all health sciences colleagues and also we ask for social, health and life insurance.”

This footage was filmed and produced 4 May 2021.

Students of the last years of medicine took to the streets of the Peruvian capital to demand from the government and health authorities biosafety conditions, delivery of protective equipment, health and life insurance, payment of the minimum vital remuneration and to be included in the list to receive the vaccine against COVID-19, because they are also in the front line in the collapsed hospitals and clinics of the country fighting against the pandemic and that they are the future of Peruvian medicine. The students came to the congress for the health commission to attend to their requests, representatives managed to be received by some congressmen and promised to promptly process their requests.

The translation of the interviews:

Alexander Urbina, secretary General of the Federation of Medical Students of Peru:
[2:17-2:41]
– What the health ministry has established is that the budget only reaches until December and they will grant us 400 soles (135 USD, less than half of a minimum vital salary in Peru), 400 soles that would not reach, in the case of the university or the health ministry couldn't cover that. We are not here protesting because we do not want to enter and fight against this pandemic, we want to enter now but with the necessary security.

Maylin Vilcatoma, a dental student at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos:
[2:42-2:58]
– What we ask is the payment for all health sciences careers, without discrimination of the fifth or upper third, of a minimum vital remuneration (930 soles or 248 USD), we ask for PPEs for all health sciences colleagues and also we ask for social, health and life insurance.