US embassy cable - 04SANTODOMINGO1873

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SANTO DOMINGO 001873 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR WHA/CAR 
NSC FOR SHANNON AND MADISON 
LABOR FOR ILAB 
TREASURY FOR OASIA-LAMONICA 
USDOC FOR 4322/ITA/MAC/WH/CARIBBEAN BASIN DIVISION 
USDOC FOR 3134/ITA/USFCS/RD/WH 
DHS FOR CIS-CARLOS ITURREGUI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, ELAB, DR 
SUBJECT: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: HEALTH WORKERS STRIKE - AGAIN 
 
REF: A. REF: (A) SANTO DOMINGO 0537 (NOTAL) 
 
     B. (B) SANTO DOMINGO 0794 (NOTAL) 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: A public health workers' strike has 
virtually shut down outpatient services at Dominican public 
hospitals for five days beginning March 22, following similar 
but shorter work stoppages since January.  Government, civil 
society, and the press, while acknowledging a need for better 
pay and funding at the hospitals, have reacted negatively to 
the walkout, which is mainly affecting low-income persons who 
have no access to the private health care system here.  Under 
the nation's current difficult financial circumstances, the 
strikers are unlikely to achieve their goals of doubling 
salaries and alleviating shortages of medical supplies at the 
hospitals.  The strike's economic and political impact is 
expected to be minimal.  End summary. 
 
2. (U) Health workers at Dominican public hospitals, operated 
by the State Secretariat of Public Health and Dominican 
Social Security Institute, began a five-day nationwide strike 
March 22, pressing demands for a doubling of salaries and 
improvements in the hospitals.  The strike, led by the 
Dominican Medical Association (Colegio Medico Dominicano) and 
other professional groups, involving some 20,000 doctors, 
20,000 nurses, 7,000 dentists, plus clinical psychologists, 
pharmacists, and bioanalysts, shut down outpatient services 
at all 173 public hospitals except for emergency or critical 
cases.  Thousands of low-income Dominicans who depend on 
these services will have to postpone their appointments.  The 
strike is the fifth -- and longest -- work stoppage by health 
workers so far this year.  On the first day, strikers carried 
out the first of various planned peaceful demonstrations in 
neighborhoods near the hospitals. 
 
3. (U)  President Mejia threatened to withhold salaries for 
each day the employees are on strike, and Chamber of Deputies 
speaker Alfredo Pacheco (of the ruling PRD) threatened to 
remove a proposed salary increase from the legislative 
agenda.  Opposition PRSC Deputy and bloc leader Victor (Iso) 
Bisono acknowledged the need to raise taxes to provide 
additional funding for hospital salaries and supplies, but 
asserted that the National Congress could not pass any such 
bill in response to the "blackmail" of a five-day 
paralization of health services.  State Secretary of Public 
Health Jose Rodriguez Soldevilla (PRD) characterized the 
strike as inappropriate during an election campaign and the 
salary demands as excessive in the current economic crisis. 
Retired Catholic bishop (and main adviser to Cardinal 
Archbishop Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez) denounced the 
strike as "senseless, imprudent, heartless, and 
inconsiderate."  Editorials in two major daily papers opposed 
the strike. 
 
4. (U)  Following the first health workers' strike January 
27, Mejia promised quicker disbursements to alleviate 
shortages of medicines, supplies, and equipment in the 
hospitals and suggested that a special commission propose 
legislation to finance a pay increase (Ref A).  The resulting 
bill, which proposes a tax on alcoholic beverages and tobacco 
products to finance the increase, has been referred to a 
Congressional committee.  Hospital services continue to 
suffer from supply shortages. 
 
5. (SBU) Comment: Health workers, like most Dominicans, have 
felt severely pinched during the past year between their 
stagnating incomes, a declining exchange rate, and inflation. 
 That said, the millions of low-income citizens who depend on 
public health services are unlikely to sympathize with the 
increasingly disruptive strikes.  The public mood has shifted 
since January, when a 24-hour public health workers' strike 
was followed by a successful nationwide work stoppage in all 
sectors (Ref B).  Now, less than two months before the 
presidential election, voters are taking to the streets in 
campaign rallies, rather than participating in work stoppages 
or protests.  Moreover, middle- and upper-class patients 
generally have access to locally available private hospitals, 
which are unaffected by the latest health workers' strike. 
 
6. (SBU) The strike has worthy goals, but is unlikely to 
achieve them in the nation's difficult financial 
circumstances.  The strike's impact on the economy, the 
government, and the presidential election campaign is 
expected to be minimal.  The public health workers have a 
history of sporadic walkouts, and the country has learned to 
put with them, despite the inconvenience and health 
consequences for low-income patients. 
HERTELL