NewsWhore
05-21-2009, 04:00 PM
Of the nearly 23,000 doctors affiliated to the Dominican Medical Association (CMD), only 5,700 work in the private sector. The rest are employed by the Ministry of Public Health or the Dominican Institute of Social Security. Of these, most live in poverty due to their low salaries, according to CMD spokesmen, Drs Waldo Ariel Suero and Senen Caba.
Suero and Caba provided these figures in response to comments by government officials on the low productivity of workers in the health sector during an interview with the Corripio Communications Group. The position of the Ministry of Public Health is that wage increases should be pegged to productivity, arguing that many physicians hold more than one job at the same time.
Suero and Caba instead make the point that doctors' salaries in the public health system range from RD$14,000 for recent medical graduates fulfilling their national service duty required by law, up to RD$35,000 which is paid to the head of hospital services. The CMD wants an over the board wage increase to be carried out.
The Ministry of Public Health has 12,000 doctors on its payrolls, and the IDSS has 2,300, according to Caba who complained that the Ministry spends most of its money in six big hospitals. Of 1,300 buildings run by Public Health, the ministry only pays attention to six or seven. These are the Marcelino Velez Santana hospital, the Juan Bosch hospital, the Vinicio Calventi hospital, the Center for Transplants (CECANOT) and the hospitals located in the Plaza de la Salud.
The doctors said that the health system is clearly headed towards privatization.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)
Suero and Caba provided these figures in response to comments by government officials on the low productivity of workers in the health sector during an interview with the Corripio Communications Group. The position of the Ministry of Public Health is that wage increases should be pegged to productivity, arguing that many physicians hold more than one job at the same time.
Suero and Caba instead make the point that doctors' salaries in the public health system range from RD$14,000 for recent medical graduates fulfilling their national service duty required by law, up to RD$35,000 which is paid to the head of hospital services. The CMD wants an over the board wage increase to be carried out.
The Ministry of Public Health has 12,000 doctors on its payrolls, and the IDSS has 2,300, according to Caba who complained that the Ministry spends most of its money in six big hospitals. Of 1,300 buildings run by Public Health, the ministry only pays attention to six or seven. These are the Marcelino Velez Santana hospital, the Juan Bosch hospital, the Vinicio Calventi hospital, the Center for Transplants (CECANOT) and the hospitals located in the Plaza de la Salud.
The doctors said that the health system is clearly headed towards privatization.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#7)