Doctors’ work hours must be defined: Health Service chief

Santo Domingo.- NationalHealth Service (NHS) director Nelson Rodriguez on Thursday said negotiationswith the Dominican Medical Association (CMD) should define the doctors’ workinghours.

He said they haven’t been proposed an eight-hour workday andinstead what the Health Career Law and Civil Service regulations stipulate, aminimum of six hours and a maximum of eight hours.

“We need a reorganize and institutionalize doctors’ workinghours because doctors perform face-to-face consultations for which both should beconfined,” Rodriguez said.

"How much time is consultation and how much is to face-to-face?It means that the doctor is permanently in the hospital, not at home waitingfor a call. Then those hours on call must be added to the hours of dailyconsultation," the official said, but noted that the difficult situationin hospitals is because 30% of them are being remodeled.