Medical staff in public hospitals demonstrated on January 18 in front of the Ministry of Finance in Bucharest for a 20% wage hike, accusing precarious incomes. 

A working group was formed at the level of the Government, made up of representatives of the medical staff's association Sanitas, of the Ministries of Finance, Labour and Health, which "has ten days to find solutions," according to Viorel Huşanu, president of Sanitas, Bucharest branch, quoted by Bursa.ro.

"If no solutions are found in these days, we will continue our protests. We have enough signatures to trigger even a general strike. These days, as we said, we are giving the Government a break to find solutions; we will picket all the ministries departments, Labour, Finance and Health, after which we will establish another calendar to which all health unions will join us," Huşanu added.

In related news, general practitioners (family doctors) protested across the whole country against a 30% cut of the fees paid by the public insurance system CNAS for the services delivered to their patients. The cut was put on hold "at least until June 30," representatives of the medical staff announced after talks with CNAS, Europafm.ro reported.

iulian@romania-insider.com

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