The longest doctors’ strike in the history of the D.R. is well into its fourth month, and conflicting statements have recently been made by the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Victor Garcia Santos, and the president of the Asociación Médica Dominicana (AMD), Dr. Francisco Cano González. While Dr. Garcia Santos claims that over 50% of the AMD doctors have returned to work at the public hospitals and those of the Instituto Dominicano de Seguro Social (IDSS) and that the military doctors have sufficed in the absence of the strikers, Dr. Cano Gonzalez says that patients have been dying due to lack of proper treatment. The newspaper Hoy reports that since the work stoppage began on 30 October, 20 patients have died in IDSS hospitals due to a lack of proper equipment and medicines.
According to the Listin Diario, some dissent could be sensed among the striking doctors at an assembly of the AMD, where an update on the strike was being given by Dr. Cano Gonzalez. The majority of the doctors, however, ratified his plan to continue the work stoppage and continue negotiations with a special mediating committee and the government. One note of optimism came out of the assembly when Dr. Cano Gonzalez told AMD members that the negotiations have advanced, and that he would not be surprised to see the work stoppage end “in the next few days”.
22-28 March 1996