The Norwegian Medical Association announced that 23 doctors in Tromsø, Trondheim, Narvik, Bergen, and Stavanger would go on strike from and including Monday, October 26.
The strike comes after the State Conciliator of Norway (Riksmekleren) stated on Thursday, October 15, that the parties couldn’t reach an agreement on the special agreement.
The Medical Association union did not accept the mediation result.
On Wednesday, it announced which doctors would go on strike.
“Norway is in the middle of a pandemic that has major consequences for the health service.
“Our first withdrawal largely protects the population and patients from the consequences of the strike.
“We are concerned with taking social responsibility, even during a strike,” Marit Hermansen noted.
No time for new studies
According to a press release from the Norwegian Medical Association, doctors in smaller municipalities work an average of 37.7 hours of emergency care per week, either in the form of on-call duty, home care, or other types of emergency care.
“A quarter of doctors have more than 52.8 hours of emergency care a week. This is in addition to a normal working week as a GP. 1 in 10 doctors work a full 100 hours of emergency care or more per week “, the press release noted.
“For years, the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) has rejected all proposals that would reduce the enormous workload, and instead proposed new working groups and reports.
“At the same time, working hours have increased to unmanageable levels.
“The serious situation in the district municipalities shows that we do not have time for more studies,” Hermansen said.
She added that they want the KS to sit down with the Norwegian Medical Association and make the necessary contract changes to ease the great work pressure on the emergency room.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
Be the first to comment on "Norwegian doctors’ strike to start on Monday"