Venezuelan doctors go on indefinite strike

[Bacchus39]

http://english.eluniversal.com/2011/06/30/venezuelan-doctors-go-on-indefinite-strike.shtml




Douglas León Natera, the president of the Venezuelan Medical Federation, said that the doctors are guaranteeing "the health and life" of the patients because emergency services, neonatology, burn victims units and intensive care units are working
Labor
An indefinite strike of doctors, which was called by the Venezuelan Medical Federation (FMV) on Thursday at 07:00 a.m., has been carried out by 90 percent of physicians, said the FMV president, Douglas León Natera.

"According to the report provided by the presidents of the medical federations and the secretaries general of doctor associations in the states of Guárico, Portuguesa, Barinas and Anzoátegui, the doctors' strike has been accomplished by 80 percent of the physicians, while 90 percent of the doctors are staging the strike in the states of Zulia, Falcón, Táchira and Monagas," Natera said at a press conference.

Natera said that the doctors are guaranteeing "the health and life" of the patients because emergency services, neonatology, burn victims units and intensive care units are working

[joshcryer]

1. Not sure I understand this. 80-90% of doctors have gone on strike but will maintain emergency...

...facilities? OK I read it twice and that's what it sounds like. This will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Bacchus39]

2. yes, that is what is being said, not sure how that is going to work. n/t

s

[Bacchus39]

3. info on strike reasons

they want a new collective bargaining agreement, pay raise, endowment for medical equipment and reitirement standardization.

"Neither the minister Sader, nor the Social Development commission, and much less Chavez have recognized the terrible ordeal of medicine in the country, where the medical facilities that attend the public don't have anything and the doctors make $604 monthly"



Unos 20.000 sanitarios respaldarán la huelga después de que sus exigencias no fueran atendidas por el Gobierno venezolano presidido por Hugo Chávez. Entre las propuestas del personal médico están una revisión del contrato colectivo vencido hace ocho años, aumentos de sueldo, dotación de equipos médicos y homologación de los jubilados y pensionados del Ministerio de la Salud, según informa el diario local ′El Universal′.

El presidente de la FMV, Douglas León Natera, señaló que la huelga se realiza por el "desconocimiento del ejercicio médico por parte del Gobierno". "Ni la ministra Eugenia Sader, ni la comisión de Desarrollo Social de la Asamblea Nacional y mucho menos el presidente Chávez han reconocido el viacrucis de la medicina en el país, donde los recintos de atención al pueblo no cuentan con nada y los médicos cobran 2.600 bolívares de salario básico mensual", dijo.

http://www.saludigestivo.es/es/noticias-salud/venezuela-medicos-venezolanos-inician-este-jueves-una-huelga-indefinida-en-298-hospitales-para.php

[joshcryer]

4. They need to be careful. Remember what happened during the Venezuelan general strike of 2002–2003?

40% of the PDVSA workforce was fired. Chavez's government could happily replace a good chunk of its medical force with Cuban doctors.

[Juno2k5]

5. Re:

That is actually a plausible scenario...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. And their issue, aside from being egged on by the CIA is?

(I saw this movie when it was played out in Chile in 1973.)

Even that article from an anti-Chavez paper doesn't say what they're in such a snit about.

[Bacchus39]

7. it indeed says what their demands are and I translated them n/t

s

[joshcryer]

8. Evidence for that claim? The article linked explains it clearly.

But your claim appears unsubstantiated. I wouldn't be surprised if a pro-Venezuela site could link someone in the protests to the CIA or USAID, but I doubt they have brainwashing powers to affect 90% of the doctor population.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. The article at the link is four paragraphs long and says nothing about the reasons

Now if you're referring to some other article, you have to indicate it more clearly.

[joshcryer]

10. Did you not read the *first line* of Bacchus39's post? The 3rd paragraph at the link?

C'mon, you don't consider the last sentence of the third paragraph to be what they are "in such a snit about"?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

11. No, all it says is that they are keeping critical services going

It says what percentage of doctors in what provinces are on strike.

It does not say what they are striking ABOUT. More money? Working conditions? Not being treated like gods anymore? Being forced to treat the rich and poor equally?

Maybe I'm dense. Maybe I forgot how to read after more than fifty years of knowing how. But nowhere, either in the article or in your posts, is there the ISSUE that they're striking about.

OK, I looked on the Internet and found an AP article that public sector doctors were striking for more money.

Now would it have been so hard for you just to say that?

(By the way, there have also been doctors' strikes in Uruguay and Nicaragua recently, as I learned in my Google search.)

[joshcryer]

13. Bacchus39 said "pay raise" in the first line of his post! (#3) You've got to be kidding me!

Pay raise of course is not the only thing. The first line of Bacchus39's post explains it perfectly fine!

I'm seriously completely taken aback by this. Seriously! Third paragraph of the linked article in post #3!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

14. You said the first line of his post

How was I to know you meant his THIRD post?
Yeesh.

[joshcryer]

15. My bad, I assumed you'd actually read the thread, the post is titled "info on strike reasons."

Apologies, should've been more clear, though it was so plainly stated. Completely bizarre for me.

[ChangoLoa]

12. Yeah, they're such CIA-oligarchs you know

After 7 years of study, they earn 600 bucks a month, which is just a tad more than half of what a freshly graduated army officer earns (1000 $), but they're oligarchs. The proof? They go on strike just like the truck drivers in Santiago 40 years ago. It's exactly the same movie, as you say. Useless to watch it over and over...

In general, people who dare protesting or showing their disagreement with Chavez in Venezuela are putrid apatridas. Their deepest desire is to sell their country to the gringos... that's why they work in a public hospital. It's an infiltration strategy! But shhh, don't tell anyone I told you..