Czech doctors’ association calls on doctors to leave hospitals over salaries

The Czech Medical Chamber has joined a protest by the doctors’ trade unions and called on its members to quit their jobs in hospitals if their salaries do not increase by the end of the year. If successful, the campaign could result in many hospital departments around the country having to close down. Doctors want their salaries increased by around 40 percent; the appeal should also draw attention to the fact that Czech hospitals increasingly rely on foreign doctors. The head of the Czech Medical Chamber, Milan Kubek, said that some 2,100 foreign doctors were working in the country, while around 200 Czech doctors leave the Czech Republic each year to work in countries where salaries are higher.