The Fides Union has intensified the strike: doctors are withdrawing consent for overtime work, and they also have the support of their professional associations

By: G. B.

The Union of Doctors and Dentists of Slovenia, Fides, unanimously adopted a resolution at the main strike committee meeting to submit revocations of consents for overtime work to the management of healthcare institutions on Wednesday. According to the estimates, approximately half of all doctors are expected to withdraw their consents, said Fides President Damjan Polh at a press conference.

According to Damjan Polh, doctors will now work a maximum of 48 hours per week and no more. They will also not work more than 16 hours continuously. “This is entirely in line with the European Working Time Directive,” he explained. Some consents will take effect immediately, such as in the case of the General Hospital Celje and the Institute of Oncology Ljubljana. In some cases, the revocation or withdrawal of consents will take effect within 30 days. “This was a necessary measure that we had to take to draw attention to the fact that this government does not want any changes in healthcare at all,” he said. The task of public healthcare institutions, according to him, will be to create schedules that adapt to the withdrawal of consents while taking into account the new conditions.

The Coordination of Medical Organisations (KZO) supports FIDES in its efforts to fulfil the signed agreement

KZO has supported FIDES in its efforts to fulfil the signed agreement from 2023, published in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia on February 3^rd, 2023. “The fulfilment of the signed agreement also means preserving the public healthcare system. The Coordination of Medical Organisations supports all activities aimed at improving the working conditions of physicians and dentists and contributes to the immediate restoration and strengthening of a functioning public and accessible healthcare system. We caution that physicians will feel the existing limitations on patient care even more significantly with the announced withdrawal of consents for physicians to work beyond the legal limit of 40+8 hours. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately find an acceptable solution for both negotiating parties,” they wrote in the coordination composed of the Slovenian Medical Association, the Slovenian Medical Chamber, and the Professional Association of Private Physicians and Dentists of Slovenia.