Doctors end strike in Lampung

Doctors end strike in Lampung

BANDARLAMPUNG: Around 300 part-time, non-contract doctors in
Lampung ended their week-long strike on Tuesday after Minister of
Health Achmad Suyudi promised them better pay and a clearer
employment status.

"Around 80 percent of the doctors' demands have been responded
to, in particular the problem with their status as temporary
civil servants," Basuki, chairman of the protesting group, the
Forum for General Doctors and Dentists in Lampung, said.

Achmad met more than 100 doctors, including representatives
from Lampung, who demonstrated at his office in Jakarta on
Monday. He pledged to address their grievances then and came
through on his promise on Tuesday.

Basuki said the health minister had written to the manpower
ministry to modify the "unclear" status for the non-contract
doctors assigned to community health centers in villages across
the country.

Under the prevailing law, recent medical school graduates are
required to work in remote villages for two to five years before
they can become eligible for their medical licenses.

Basuki said the problem of the issuance of licenses would be
dealt with later by a government team. --JP