PM reaches agreement with doctors threatening to protest

An agreement has been reached between Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and the over 6,000 doctors who refused to sign overtime contracts for the coming month in protest at measures that increased the amount of overtime hours they were legally allowed to work. The doctors’ unions, who were originally demanding reduced overtime, instead accepted Mr. Fiala's offer of increased salaries for next year at the meeting he held with them on Thursday. The prime minister has promised an extra CZK 9.8 billion from public health insurance to go towards increasing doctors' salaries, with the precise conditions to be negotiated in the coming days.

Many hospitals were warning that they would only be able to provide emergency care from December 1 due to the anticipated staff shortages that would arise as a result of the overtime strike. The vice-president of the Czech Medical Chamber has said that the protest will be called off once the prime minister's offer has been confirmed in writing.