Medicine

Doctors strike finally at an end

Medical professionals agree to a 23 percent salary increase and will go back to work today.

During the strike, about 7,500 surgeries had to be postponed, meaning months of backlogs.

VÍCTOR AROSEMENA/LA PRENSA

Signed: Government representatives and doctors signed an agreement last night that brought an end to the 39-day strike.956535

The government and striking doctors reached an agreement on Friday that brought an end to the walkout that had crippled the nation’s public health system.

Doctors will receive a 23 percent pay increase, which is about a third of the hike they had sought when they walked off the job.

The agreement was reached at 10:45 p.m. on the 39th day of the strike. The salary increase will go into effect in July 2008 and is expected to cost the government $36 million per year.

Julio García Valarini, the leader of the Comisión Médica Negociadora Nacional (Comenenal), described the agreement as fair, but emphasized that it fell far below the union’s expectations.

Ministra de Salud Rosario Turner was visibly happy when the agreement was signed, stating that it hopefully will be the catalyst to improvements within the industry.

The strike had an impact on thousands of patients who went without medical care when doctors walked off the job.

According to government figures, 721,285 appointments and 7,556 surgeries were cancelled during strike.

One of those affected was Asunción Berenguer. She had two appointments cancelled, one with a specialist in rheumatology and another with her orthopedist.

Now that the strike has ended, she is worried about when those missed appointments will be rescheduled.

That part of the equation was worked out Friday as doctors agreed to work longer hours for the next several months.

As part of the agreement, doctors must treat at least five extra patients per day after normal working hours to make up for the appointments that were lost during the strike.

Surgeons will be required to perform one or two extra surgeries per day to reduce the backlog in that area.

Government officials estimated that it will take at least two months for doctors to catch up with all the patients who missed appointments during the strike.

Meanwhile, the government promised to provide better equipment and facilities necessary to improve system’s efficiency. A major complaint by doctors has been that they have lacked the proper facilities to adequately treat patients.

The strike began more than a month ago when doctors took to the picket lines to protest their wages. Though on strike, the doctors worked partial shifts to ensure that emergency rooms and critical care units remained open.

The government countered by hiring replacement doctors and threatening to withhold wages for the hours that doctors did show up for work.

Initially doctors had demanded a 60 percent pay increase, while government had initially offered a single-digit pay raise.

The sides remained far apart until this week, when an agreement of around 25 percent seemed likely.

Now that the agreement has been signed, the doctors will be busy making up for lost time.