Doctors Protest against "Full Day" Bill

Medical doctors stopped working for a whole day last week to express their protest against the Full Day Draft Law which was discussed in Parliament on 19 January.

The "Full day" bill includes the following regulations:

* Physicians working at public institutions and organizations are allowed to work publicly only. They will not be able to open a medical practice or to carry out additional contract business. Only municipality and institutional doctors may practise outside their workplace.

* Doctors working for health institutions connected to the Social Security Institution (SGK), for private universities or health institutions connected to public institutions can only work within these institutions. Doctors working part-time cannot open a medical practice.

* Doctors working at private institutions not connected to SGK, at private universities or a medical practice can only work at an additional workplace of the same kind. Physicians with a medical practice can treat patients in institutions connected to SGK.

The physician's objections

The doctors object the following points of the Full Day Draft Law:

* The "Full Day concept" of the bill means a 24-hour working day for doctors regardless of public or private sector. This increases the risk of long working hours.

* Health Minister Recep Akdağ constantly talks about a rise for doctors' salaries. However, by passing the issue of wages to the "global budget", salaries will be paid from the effective capital founded by the Public Hospitals Association. In that situation it is impossible to pay even current wages.

* The wages presented by the Health Minister and the Prime Minister are merely theoretic numbers that represent the top figures. A doctor has to work 13-14 per day in order to gain as much as declared in the bill. The pay raise for on call duty from TL 3 to TL 5 per hour shows the dimension of the improvements declared in the draft bill.

* Premiums will have to be paid for mistakes made due to bad working conditions. The system makes the insurance companies rich with the money cut from people working in the health sector.

* The bill does not provide a raise of pensions for retired physicians. The article about retirement only includes doctors and dentists working at health institutions connected to the effective capital of the Health Ministry. It does not include retired doctors, medical school employees, institutional doctors, municipality doctors and other health personnel.

* A fixed share from the effective capital will only be paid to a part of the health personnel. Doctors and dentist working at institutions connected to the effective capital of the Health Ministry will be paid. However, non-medical personnel of the Health Ministry, the entire staff including doctors working at medical school and doctors working for the municipality and institutions will not be paid from the effective capital.

* The bill does not provide an income raise. To the contrary, the income will decrease due to retirement premiums and the compulsory professional liability insurance. (BÇ/VK)