Work hour controls at hospitals

[NewsWhore]

In an interview with CDN yesterday, Public Health Minister Bautista Rojas Gomez said that as of 1 April physicians would have to register their work hours on a daily basis, as reported in El Caribe. He said the measure would be implemented in all public hospitals. He commented that 50% of physicians do not fulfill the hours for which they were contracted. "We do not keep strict control of employee attendance, or their job fulfillment track record. We have accommodated the doctors, so this would be a start," he said. Public hospital physicians are contracted for four hours per day. He said that the time has come for professional managers to take charge of administering the hospitals, and that a doctor should be appointed deputy director in charge of the medical aspects. He said the Ministry of Public Health allocates 65.8% of its budget to its staff and that a full-time physician can make up to RD$29,000 a month, according to rank, in addition to incentives that range from RD$4,000-RD$8,000 for productivity. He said that depending on their rank in the hospitals, other doctors make RD$27,000, RD$25,000 and RD$23,000 in the case of residents in training.
Hospital directors interviewed by the Listin Diario admitted to the doctors' lack of fulfillment of contractual obligations, but added that so far no mechanisms have been in place to oblige doctors to comply with the established schedules. As reported in Listin Diario, one doctor said that the failure to keep to their schedules means that operations or specialized medical appointments have to be made up to three months in advance.

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