Specialist doctors today maintain their positions of suspending the extra work and the guards, due to the lack of consensus with the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) for wage and work improvements.
As they had already announced, since April 1 the members of the guild of specialist doctors stopped making these benefits after 16:00 local time, as a firm measure to achieve their demands.
Three days later, CCSS stated that there is a shortage of these professionals in 10 areas, including anesthesiology and recovery, cardiology and general surgery.
Hours later on the same day he announced a 10.16 percent technical adjustment on the salary of general doctors and specialists.
However, the National Union of Specialist Physicians (Siname) assured that the technical salary adjustment approved by the CCSS board of directors is not part of the negotiations and requests for its movement.
Once again, the Board of Directors of the institution demonstrates its reluctance to negotiate and dialogue, agreeing unilateral salary adjustments that do not correspond to the requests of the movement of non-realization of extraordinary time and its lack of seriousness regarding the regrettable consequences that the non-care of our patients may have, said the president of Siname, Mario Quesada.
The medical union insists that it seeks the implementation of a definitive and competitive global salary, as well as better working conditions that avoid escape and encourage the retention of CCSS specialists.
In addition, they accuse the entity of little seriousness in the face of the consequences that could be faced in the next few hours.
On the other hand, the executive president of the CCSS Marta Esquivel stated that the salaries demanded by the medical specialists of the institution, according to their criteria, are impossible to pay.
Founded in 1943, the Fund is in charge of Costa Rica’s social security and manages two major insurance: health and pensions, as well as coordinating and implementing prevention and assistance programmes for a large part of the population of this Central American nation.
This article has been translated from the original which first appeared in El Pais