As of 1 March, the strike being carried out by doctors of the Dominican Medical Association (AMD) was in its 123rd day, constituting the longest such work stoppage in recent history, longer than the 113-day strike in 1991. A resolution to the conflict between the government and the AMD still does not seem to be in sight.
The president of the AMD, Dr. Francisco Cano Gonzalez, has maintained his position that the doctors will not return to the public hospitals until agreements reached between the two parties last 7 August are honored by the government. Dr. Cano Gonzalez has also demanded a meeting with President Joaquin Balaguer which seems unlikely, according to anonymous government and AMD sources, that spoke to the newspaper Hoy.
A mediating commission trying to end the conflict, headed by Monsignor Agripino Nuñez Collado, has not met since 2 February and has not announced any future negotiations between the government and the AMD. Military medical personnel who replaced skeleton AMD crews in emergency rooms and intensive care units on 15 January remain in the public hospitals, amidst claims by Dr. Cano Gonzalez that over 900 patients have died since their takeover.
The Minister of Public Health, Dr. Victor Garcia Santos, has denied that the absence of the striking doctors has resulted in such deficiencies in the hospital service, praising the work of the military doctors.
8-14 March 1996