Dominican Medical College returns to strike

Next July 31, a strike organized by the Dominican Medical Association (CMD, spanish acronym) and the Specialized Medical Societies begins. They announced this 26th that it would be a strike in stages, which responds to the absence of agreements with the meetings held with government health institutions.

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The College and the Medical Societies demand, among other health reforms, the creation of a Basic Universal Health Plan and a unified fee schedule that allows a more democratic management of the country’s medical resources.

These negotiations have been going on for more than four months, and representatives of the plaintiff institutions denounce that they have only received “vague promises.” This was announced by Senén Caba, president of the CMD.

Both state and private institutions will participate in the strike, both sectors interested in the creation of a Social Security Law that guarantees the quality of health services, and that these services be conceived as citizens’ rights.

The tweet reads, "Doctors will paralyze for twelve hours on July 31 in clinics and hospitals."

Daniel Rivera, coordinator of the Health Cabinet, and the Minister of Labor, Luis Miguel de Camps, participated in the meetings on behalf of the government. Loenardo Brito, president of the Medical College of Surgeons, informed that this Wednesday they will meet to design the implementation and scope of the announced strike. This will consist of staggered work stoppages that will begin next Monday, initially for 12 hours.

“It is not possible that after 14 joint meetings, the committee has not made a proposal that minimally meets the expectations of those of us who went there, with the promise that it was the expeditious way to reach an agreement,” the CDM stated in a communiqué.

These are not the only demands being made by Dominican medical organizations to the government. Already in days prior to January 2023, different guilds of the sector, under the flag of the National Health Coordinator CONASALUD, complained to the president due to the “lack of equipment and medicines in the hospitals of the country” and called for the “remodeling of the health centers that are not in good conditions.”

At that time, there was much criticism of the handling of a cholera outbreak: "New cases have been registered in different cities of the country, and it is necessary to implement urgent measures to prevent the disease from spreading," said Rafaela Figueredo, head of the National Union of Nurses (UNASE) and General Secretary of the Caribbean Region (CLATE, Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of State Workers). 

CONASALUD is made up of the health sector unions: National Union of Nursing Services, Association of Health Psychologists, National Federation of Health Workers, among others.