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