YESTERDAY’S 60-strong mass picket to save Chase Farm Hospital drew big support from patients and local residents who all said they would join today’s march to occupy the closure-threatened A&E.
There were flags and banners waved as chants of ‘Defend the NHS, save Chase Farm’ rang out.
Pickets also shouted ‘Save the A&E, stop the closure’ and ‘No cuts, no closures – kick this government out’.
Tina Suleiman, a local resident, said: ‘I am using Chase Farm to get my eye tested.
‘This hospital A&E is convenient for everybody, it’s the only one around here, it’s such a nice hospital.
‘It must stay open, we will fight! That’s why I am coming on the march.’
Mira Dubbar said: ‘I have given birth at Chase Farm and I wanted to do it again.
‘I was very upset when they shut the maternity down.
‘I will definitely be coming on the march.’
Dipesh Shah told News Line: ‘Saving Chase Farm is a must because they have specialised children’s services.
‘They have a special A&E department for babies.
‘There has to be strike action to stop the closure.
‘I am bringing my family on the march.’
Student photographer Emily Lethbridge, studying at a Fine Arts college, said: ‘Students must join the march on Saturday to stop the closure.
‘I am doing my whole photography A Level on cuts and the detrimental affect they have on everyone.
‘We need socialism. I want to conduct my life in a way which helps other people less fortunate then me.
‘Kick the Tories out !’
Bill Rogers, Secretary of the North East London Council of Action, said: ‘We have a good turn-out on the mass picket today.
‘After Tory Chancellor Osborne’s Autumn Statement announcing that people will have to work until they are 69, we need an NHS more than ever.
‘We want everyone to join the march to occupy the A&E and stop its closure.
‘The trade unions have to step into this fight to defend Chase Farm and the National Health Service because the working class will not allow the smashing up of the Welfare State and the NHS.
‘That is going to require a general strike to smash this government and put in a workers’ government and socialism.’
Abigal Ohemeng-Amoateng, who is 35-weeks pregnant, told News Line: ‘I am having to go to Barnet hospital to give birth.
‘I had to go there for the first time today, and it took me forever to get there.
‘I am really not happy about that. It makes me anxious that I’ll have to leave my house extra early when I start my contractions.
‘This my first child and I want to have it at Chase Farm hospital; I had all my ante-natal here.
‘The unions need to take action, we have to make a difference.
‘In Enfield there are so many elderly people. How are they going to travel all the way to Barnet?
‘We need an NHS. If it wasn’t for the NHS, people who cannot afford healthcare would die.
‘Saving the NHS is a life-or-death question. We are fighting for our lives.’
Mario, an ex-Visteon worker, said: ‘I am really angry because the closure is going to affect my health.
‘Travelling further away for any medical problem is going to affect your health.’
Today’s demonstration assembles at 1.00pm at Enfield Green war memorial and marches off at 2.00pm through Enfield Town Centre to Chase Farm hospital.
