
Yesterday, Wednesday 11 October 2017, was the first day of a two-day strike called by the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) to protest that the government had not complied with the agreement signed last year. In hospitals such as the Darío Contreras trauma center, military doctors who tried to fill in for striking doctors were prevented from doing so by their public health service colleagues. The national strike is for 48 hours and will end on Friday, 13 October.
In some cases the doctors on strike interrupted consultations and sat on beds and desks so the military doctors could not attend to the patients.
Public Health Minister Altagracia Guzmán Marcelino said that she had set up a commission of lawyers to investigate the supposed lack of compliance of the government with the agreement, and went on to say that the government had invested more than RD$10,000 million in the health care system. The government says they are not in compliance in the case of 369 physicians that are being investigated for irregularities in their compliance on the job.
Read more in Spanish:
Diario Libre
12 October 2017