Lampung doctors continue striking
Lampung doctors continue striking
Oyos Saroso, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung
More than 300 temporarily employed doctors in Lampung would
continue striking this week to push their demand for a clear
status and better payment, strike leaders said on Saturday.
The protesters pledged they would not stop their strike until
their demands, including the revocation of a ruling on temporary
doctors, were heeded by the relevant authorities.
At least six representatives of the strikers traveled to
Jakarta on Saturday to meet Minister of Health Ahmad Suyudi to
lodge their concerns after protests were ignored by the
provincial health office last week.
Lampung's Communication Forum for General Doctors and Dentists
(Forsidogi) chairman Basuki Baskara said the delegation
represented at least 329 members of the organization in the
province.
He said the delegates would also attend a national meeting of
Forsidogi members from across the country in Jakarta, scheduled
for Monday, to push their demands.
"All doctors affiliated with Forsidogi from every province
would consolidate themselves... before launching a national
movement," Basuki added.
He could not determine whether the national movement would
start on Monday during the national gathering.
Basuki said the ruling, which obliges fresh graduates to
participate in a field training program in regions for a number
of years to obtain a doctor's practical license, was baseless as
it was not regulated under the manpower law.
Such a program should, therefore, be scrapped because it had
hampered the career of doctors, he added.
The strike, meanwhile, did not significantly affect the
medical services in health community centers (Puskesmas) in
Lampung as state doctors were deployed to tackle the problem over
the protest, local officials said.
Head of the provincial health office Syofyan A.T said he had
ordered state physicians, including senior ones, in hospitals to
intervene in helping Puskesmas since permanently employed doctors
went on strike last week.