Rural doctors end strike
B.C.'s rural doctors are going back to work as early as Monday. Physicians in fourteen communities across the province have agreed to mediation in their dispute with the provincial government.
They've been demanding more money to recruit and retain doctors in smaller communities.
About 200 of them had resigned their hospital privileges in protest over the past two weeks. However, they had continued to provide emergency services.
The weekend peace agreement was announced by Health Minister Mike Farnworth. "We have agreed along with the BCMA to go to a mediation panel, that goes until November 15 to resolve the issues outstanding," he says This will also end the service withdrawal by doctors while this is taking place
The three-person mediation panel will be chaired by Alan Hope. The major issues include:
- Retention premiums
- On-call payments
- Doctor-of-the-day compensation
- And how to make the final agreement binding