State hospital doctors hold four-hour stoppage

State clinic doctors are staging a four-hour work stoppage from noon on Wednesday to protest plans to tighten control of public hospital finances.

The protest is being timed to coincide with a vote in Parliament on a government bill foreseeing the creation of a company that will henceforth manage hospital finances.

In a statement, doctors said that the move marks “the complete withdrawal of the state from the financing of the public health system.”

The union representing state hospital employees (POEDIN), which has branded the decision to establish the company a “casus belli,” is also staging a four-hour work stoppage between 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the union representing local authority workers, better known as POE-OTA, has called a four-hour work stoppage for Thursday, starting at 11.30 a.m.

The walkout is in protest at plans by the government to re-examine renewable short-term contracts that have been made permanent. Unionists complain that the move will lead to layoffs.