The Dominican Medical Association physicians extended to the Cibao provinces their work strike. The public hospital doctors are only attending intensive care patients and emergency patients. The medics protest the possible approval of the Social Security Bill, that has presidential support. The physicians do not agree with the bill that establishes that physicians will be paid per patients seen. At present, public hospital physicians are paid regardless of the number of patients they see. The strike affected thousands of sick people that sought services at Dominican Institute of Social Services (IDSS) and Ministry of Public Health hospitals. Private hospitals and clinics operated as usual. Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez criticized the physicians’ attitude. He said that the physicians should drop the strike mechanism as a way to pressure the authorities. He urged them to work for the benefit of the community. "You cannot be a pressure group to seek rights if you do not fulfill your obligations," said the Cardinal.
