Doctors of Stradins Hospital may restart the strike if need be

Doctors of Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital may consider restarting the protest act if need be.

Sarmite Plume, head of the hospital’s trade union, says that Latvian Health and Social Care Workers Union’s protest act, in which doctors refused to work overtime for a whole month, helped show the problems in healthcare in hopes of them getting resolved. However, it is still unclear how those problems will be resolved and whether or not the resolution will satisfy doctors. «If the resolution does not satisfy us, we will consider organizing a more serious protest act,» said Plume.
 

At the same time, she said the protest act will definitely not happen in August.
 

Plume says the most important demand is getting normal wages so that doctors do not have to work extended hours. Extended hours overwork people, leaving doctors tired and stressed. On top of that, there is less time for them to spend with their children and other loved ones.
 

At the same time, the head of the trade union says healthcare workers are promised a major bonus to their pay next year. However, this has yet to be confirmed in any legislative drafts.
 

According to Plume, the trade union plans to meet with LVSADA representatives next week to discuss results of the protest act and other matters associated with the industry.
 

On 1 July, approximately 800 doctors stopped working overtime as part of LVSADA’s protest act. The decision to organize a protest act was made because the government’s approved amendments to the law did not provide the improvements the trade union hoped for.

BNN/LETA

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