Doctors are angry that the special committee appointed by the Chamber of Deputies to work on the bill to fund a pay raise for them has indefinitely postponed a debate on the bill originally scheduled for next Tuesday. The Dominican Medical Association (AMD) decided to call work stoppages for Wednesday and Thursday of this week to pressure Congress to take rapid action on their salary demands.The board of the AMD is demanding a 60% salary increase for members working in public hospitals. The measure will affect indigent Dominicans that visit public hospitals and those affiliated to the Dominican Social Security Institute. It is traditional for the AMD to organize periodic strikes to demand salary increase. The medics’ salaries were increased at the start of the PLD government, but the government has said that it cannot afford any new increases unless new taxes are created.
