PM fails to avert GPs' strike

A last minute attempt by Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek to avert a one day strike by general practitioners scheduled for Thursday appears to have failed. Private physicians have called the strike in protest of the poor payment morale of some insurance companies, which they claim to be so bad it is threatening their livelihood. The prime minister met with a delegation of physicians on Monday night to try and find a way of resolving the sectors financing problems but he said he would not be pressured into sacking the health minister Milada Emmerova whom many doctors blame for the crisis.