Doctors go on 24-hour strike

[NewsWhore]

With the warning that the fight is on and the struggle will continue, the doctors are breaking the truce, and this time they are accompanied by other sectors in resuming their campaign for a salary increase with a national, 24-hour strike at public hospitals and Dominican Social Security Institute (IDSS) hospitals as of 6am today. Dominican Medical Association (CMD) president Waldo Ariel Suero reported that the executive committee has been called into permanent session and that the strike is their response to the Senate's decision to reject the legislative proposal that sought to fund a health sector salary increase by taxing betting parlors, checks and Health Risk Administrators (HMOs) with a 1% charge on earnings. In response, Public Health Minister Dr. Bautista Rojas Gomez instructed hospital management personnel to ensure that patients who go there for help receive services. He said that it was his duty to guarantee services for the poor patients who use these hospitals and that he respects the doctors and other health service sectors, even if he is not in agreement with their form of protest. On this occasion the doctors will be backed by nurses, bio-analysts, dentists, pharmacists and other health technicians who work for the Public Health Ministry as well as for IDSS, and who are also asking for pay raises. Last year, the doctors staged over 10 work stoppages at public hospitals and IDSS units. Suero confirmed that legislators had rejected the proposal after six months of discussions, saying that they were just teasing the doctors.

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