NewsWhore
01-25-2008, 04:00 PM
Members of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) voted yesterday to give the CMD the authority to call for work stoppages, strikes and marches and other forms of protest. Public hospital doctors are seeking a salary increase and dignified pension plans from the government. With this vote of support, CMD president Waldo Ariel Suero announced that a planned work stoppage for 30 January would go on as scheduled. Suero said that even though Law 147-07 was approved by the Health and Labor Risk Superintendence (SISARIL), the resolution hasn't been implemented because an appeal was filed by the National Social Security Council (CNSS) and the National Unity Council Union (CNUS). These are the reasons the strike is called for later this month. Suero continued by saying that he was glad that 2008 has been declared the Year of Health by the President because it highlights the cause, but said that if you look at the national budget only 1.8% of the country's GDP goes towards health, one of the lowest rates in Latin America. During the meeting the doctors spoke on issues and compared their salaries, between RD$15,000 and RD$23,000, to those of senators and deputies, who earn between RD$350,000 and RD$2 million a month.
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