The public hospital doctors and medical unions left a meeting with the Minister of Health Altagracia Guzman Marcelino yesterday afternoon, Monday 22 February 2016 feeling pessimistic, saying that the authorities were not receptive to their demands.
Dr. Waldo Ariel Suero, president of the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) was critical of the stance adopted by Health Minister but said they would continue talking even though the government appeared to be trying to gain time.
Guzman Marcelino said that talks would not be over in a day and the demands could not be met immediately but discussions needed to take time.
All health workers are looking for an improvement to the health system, higher pensions, at least a 60% increase in salary and a 5% of GDP allocation to the health sector.
Ariel Suero said that the authorities should have come to the talks with concrete proposals but the Ministry’s negotiating stance was inadequate in that they just wanted her to say yes or no to their demands.
