Czech Doctors’ Union threatens to strike

The head of the Czech Doctors’ Union has threatened strike action if doctors’ pay is not raised. Martin Engel told journalists on Monday that if the government did not move towards raising hospital workers’ wages, then the union would discuss staging a national strike, to be held during the Czech Republic’s EU presidency. Mr Engel said that Czech hospitals were currently suffering a ‘personnel crisis’ and that staff shortages were putting patients at risk. The union head said that he thought pay-raises were the only feasible solution to the shortage. The health minister, Tomáš Julínek, said recently that he is considering pay-rises for hospital workers, but on the basis of merit alone. Mr Engel wants to see blanket increases in healthcare professionals’ pay.