Plan to trim benefits for state doctors

In a bid to boost the morale of nurses, Public Health Minister Pradit Sinthawanarong said yesterday he would propose amending the budget – cut fringe benefits for doctors to boost salaries of other medical workers at state hospitals.
“Nurses are at the core of the public-health system,” he said at a seminar on nursing services. Held at a Bangkok hotel, it attracted about 750 nurses.
The Public Health Ministry has been looking for ways lately to appease nurses who have staged protests over heavy workloads and job insecurity. Many have worked for years as temporary employees in government hospitals in the hope of entering the ranks of the civil service.
Pradit initially offered to recruit 4,000 medical workers, including nurses, to the civil service immediately but representatives of the protesting nurses remained unhappy.
Yesterday, Pradit stood by his explanation that the government would not be able to recruit all 30,000 temporary-employee nurses to the civil service immediately.
However, he said he would offer better pay and career advancement.
“We have the same amount of budget. So, we will need to reallocate it. As medical workers work as a team, it’s good to promote sharing,” he said.
Asked whether doctors would then leave state hospitals in protest over the lower remuneration, Pradit said money was not everything.
“All doctors know about sacrifices needed in their profession. I believe they know about sufficiency.”
He said the government would never be able to offer doctors the salaries they command at private hospitals.
Previously, the Public Health Ministry has given priority to doctors, pharmacists, dentists and nurses in a bid to solve the workforce shortage in the public health sector.
Pradit’s plan to lower doctors’ fringe benefits would be a big change, and he reckoned that doctors would be upset.
“I hope we can create a good understanding. As we work as a team in the public health sector, we should share the remuneration appropriately,” he said.