Romania's biggest doctors' unions have started a warning protest on Monday, March 21. This is the first of a series of protests to take place in the coming period, according to union representatives. During the protest, which will last all week, the doctors will wear armbands.

The decision to go on strike came after the meeting between the unions and the Minister of Health, which took place early last week, failed to find solutions to the public healthcare employees' problems and a calendar for addressing these issues.

The doctors want a unitary pay in the healthcare system and bonuses calculated based on their actual salaries, among other things. They also want the number of working hours to be respected by reducing staff shortages.

According to the protests’ calendar, the doctors will be on a warning strike for the week March 21-27 (by wearing a band on their arms). On March 28, they will take their claims to the Chamber of Deputies, in the Health Committee, and will picket the Ministry of Labor’s headquarters on March 31. Next, they will picket the Ministry of Health’s headquarters on April 7, and will organize a warning strike between April 11 and April 17, when they will not work for two hours every day.

The general strike is scheduled to start on April 18 if no solution is found by then.

Romania's Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos said on Monday that the Government didn't have the resources to further increase the doctors' salaries because the budgetary balance was fragile. He acknowledged that the situation in the public healthcare system was difficult, however, and said that the Ministry of Health was trying to find solutions to answer to the doctors' demands.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com