The Dominican Medical Association ordered a 24-hour work stoppage in Santo Domingo’s public hospitals, which might soon be extended to the rest of the country. The newspaper El Siglo attributed its motivation to resistance to the new Social Security bill that advanced in Congress and would provide for hospital or doctor treatment to paid on the basis of the number of patients served. Today doctors are salaried irrespective of the number of patients treated, and even though they may have treated none. This would change if the Social Security is passed. "Let me put it simply," said William Jana, "as a result of this new law, when a child is born, it is born with Dominican citizenship and with the protection of the State known as Social Security. With numbers that identify them as citizens, they get all the benefits, including health insurance, labor accident protection, child care, unemployment insurance and a pension at age 65." The bill requires employers to pay 14% while the State will invest RD$6 billion, and employees will contribute at a rate of 10%. The newspaper El Caribe explains that the new system needs initial organizational efforts before taking effect and a ten-year transitional period to universal coverage.
