Spain health chief 'sorry' for sexist remark about nurses

The General Council of Nurses lashed out at Simon over his display of "chauvinist and backward disinhibition", denouncing his remarks as "sexist and primitive". Earlier this month, healthcare workers took part in a demonstration calling for better conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic. Photo: AFP

Spain's health emergency chief said he was sorry for a recent throwaway sexist comment that outraged the national nurses' guild, prompting the government to demand that he apologise.

The controversy erupted last Friday after the emergence of an interview on YouTube with Fernando Simon, the public face of Spain's response to the pandemic who runs the health ministry's emergencies unit.