The Dominican Medical Association (CMD), whose membership comprises public hospital doctors and unions of public hospital nurses, lab techs, pharmacists, dentists and health workers and representatives of other medical unions that are members of the National Health Pact (Panasalud) have responded to the call for a strike in all hospitals and the Dominican Institute of Social Security (IDSS) in the northern and southern regions of the country for today, Wednesday, 27 and for tomorrow, Thursday 28 January 2016 in demand of better working conditions.
The strikes primarily affect the very poor that do not have medical insurance and that are the main users of the free services at public hospitals.
The unions have instructed health workers to take part in the strike with only emergency services operational as well as care of critically ill patients. They are demanding a substantial salary increase and an improvement to the health system in hospitals.
The strike is going ahead despite the Ministry of Public Health’s confirmation late last week that the Zika virus is now present in the DR. CMD president Waldo Ariel Suero, known for leading strikes for many years, said that the aim was to press the government for better working conditions. Zika has been detected in the southwestern cities of Barahona and Jimani.
Suero, who says that government should allocate 5% of GDP to the health sector in the next national budget, claims that the Zika virus will not increase the demand for hospital services.
In a new development, hematologist Julio Amado Castanos Guzman has warned that Zika virus can also be transmitted by blood transfusions, in addition to mosquito bites.
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/salud/medicos-ratifican-llamado-a-paro-en-hospitales-de-las-regiones-norte-y-sur-BA2543517
http://www.diariolibre.com/noticias/salud/hematologo-zika-se-transmite-tambien-por-transfusion-sangre-IA2552831
