The Nursing Union SATSE has "strongly condemned" this Monday an assault suffered by a nurse from the Insular Hospital of Gran Canaria which, it assures, "presents a very worrying aggravating factor: the racist component."
Without detailing the facts that motivate their complaint, the organization states in a statement that "this aggression marks a turning point by incorporating an explicit racist component, which represents an extremely serious and unprecedented event within the nursing collective in the Canary Islands".
SATSE Canarias highlights that this type of behavior "not only violates the physical and psychological integrity of the professional, but also against the fundamental values of the public health system, based on equality, respect, and universal care".
The provincial secretary of the union in Las Palmas, Juan Trenzado, declares in this regard that "it cannot be normalized that nursing professionals work under threats, aggressions and, now also, with attacks of a racist nature".
Trenzado adds that, furthermore, the professional who suffered the aggression has not felt supported or accompanied at any time by the health administration.
SATSE Canarias states that violence against nurses increases year after year, becoming a problem that seriously affects the safety of healthcare professionals, with the number of aggressions against nursing and physiotherapy staff of the Canarian Health Service having grown by 29.17% from 2024 to 2025, going from 192 to 248.
Given that increase in conflict in health centers the union warns that it is considering "calling for demonstrations in repudiation of these events at the doors of hospitals and health centers".
At the same time, it demands that urgent measures be adopted to guarantee the safety of healthcare professionals, especially to increase the provision of security personnel, particularly in services with greater exposure, such as emergencies and primary care.
The union considers it indispensable to advance in the implementation of effective alert systems and in the optimization of immediate response protocols in the face of any type of aggression.
SATSE Canarias also asks for there to be a "rigorous application of sanctions against aggressors, as well as the guarantee of assistance and legal support to professionals who suffer any type of aggression in the exercise of their work".
The organization's conclusion is that "the respect, safety, and dignity of nurses must be a priority for the Administration. No excuse is possible".
