The press covered extensively the clash of police agents and Dominican Medical Association physicians. The doctors had notified the Ministry of Interior and Police that they would march from their locale to Congress to protest the Social Security Bill. They had just left the AMD premises when the Police confronted them. Chief of the Police Mayor General Pedro de Jesus Candelier justified the aggression by saying that the protestors did not have permission to march. The the Social Security Bill has most everyone else’s support but theirs. Reportedly, one of the major obstacles to the physicians giving the bill their blessing is that it establishes that they will be paid per labor rendered, not fixed wages, regardless of patients seen, as at present. The press reported that the police agents used rubber bullets, tear gas and forceful shoving and even beating with batons to impede the march. As a consequence, the AMD ordered an indefinite strike of government physicians at public hospitals. The physicians had already been on strike this week to protest the new bill. The police clash makes more difficult the efforts of the government to reach an agreement with the organization to pass the bill. President Hipolito Mejia promised the bill would pass as part of his social compensation plan. The AMD incident affected classes at the nearby state university and traffic in general in the area. The local press was very critical of the police repression and also of the AMD for using strikes as a way to gain benefits for its membership.
