The nursing union in the Dominican Republic demands improvements in working conditions, including the cessation of cancellations and the definition by the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII) on the tax to be deducted from some salaries after reaching certain ceilings.
This was stated by the president of the Dominican College of Nursing Professionals, Antonia Rodríguez, at the end of the mass sponsored by the Ministry of Health in commemoration of the XXX World Day of the Sick.
“We understand that there are situations that we are suffering as a result of this pandemic that is plaguing the country and the world, in which resources are being invested to overcome it. The nurses and nurses we understand that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that, in the coming days, the president (Luis Abinader) is going to sit down with us to give us answers to the demands that we have already presented to him,” said Rodríguez.
The representative of the nurses He assured that “we are working, looking for viable strategies to guarantee the care, protection and, above all, the safety of the patients who pass through our hands on a daily basis”.
Rodríguez also asked for improvements in educational training and better treatment from the medical directors of the different clinics and hospitals.
Public health seeks to vindicate nurses
For her part, the National Director of Nursing of the Ministry of Public healthYolanda Saturria, assured that the most important thing is to provide care and attention to patients and vindicate the nursing class.
“We, as a ministry, are doing everything so that nursing in the Dominican Republic can have a claim and quality care can be given to patients, who are the most needy,” he said.
The official of Public health He asked for patience, reiterating that appointments and cancellations, as well as salaries, have been resolved “little by little.”
“So far, we have hired about 1,200 nurses at the national level. We have a deficit, it is normal, but little by little we are going to solve the problems”he highlighted.
Total, Public health It has a portfolio of 23 thousand nursesof which 18,000 are assistants and the rest are professionals.
Saturria recalled that there had already been a 30% increase in wages for members of this sector.
“An assistant who used to earn RD$24,500 is now earning RD$31,000 and a professional who used to earn RD$31,000 now earns RD$41,000 in base salary without counting the incentive for time in service,” she detailed.
