A Spanish professional society of doctors has announced an indefinite strike in Madrid and healthcare workers have started sit-in protests at 12 hospitals over the increasing privatisation of the Madrid region’s health service and the levying of a €1 (£0.80; $1.30) charge on prescriptions.

Six hospitals in Madrid will shortly be taken over by private companies in the largest single step towards privatisation in Spain in the past year. The move was announced by Ignacio Gonzalez, the new president of the autonomous region of Madrid, who is a leading member of the conservative People’s Party.

All six hospitals (Infanta Leonor, Infanta Sofía, Infanta Cristina, del Henares, del Sureste, and del Tajo) had already privatised …