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.