Hospitals Federalized, Health Care Salaries Boosted in Venezuelan Capital

Mérida, July 18, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, transferred the administration of public hospitals in the country’s capital from the municipal to the federal government Thursday, increased the salary of doctors on the public payroll, and allocated bonuses and permanent positions to public health care workers.

“We are going to lift up these hospitals and we are going to make them top of the line,” Chávez declared during a ceremony as he signed the changes into law by presidential decree, a power granted to him for 18 months by the National Assembly last year.

The federal Health Ministry will now take charge of the hospitals because the municipal government in Caracas does not have a sufficient budget or administrative capacity, Chávez explained.

Chávez also granted full-time, permanent status to 2,286 current workers in the free health clinics of the Barrio Adentro Mission, a federal social program which has drastically increased health care access in poor communities with collaboration from Cuban doctors.

Doctors and dentists from Barrio Adentro clinics had demonstrated earlier this week in front of the Health Ministry to ask for higher salaries. The doctors said that when the government granted more than 3,500 full-time positions to Barrio Adentro doctors and dentists last January, salaries were unjustly cut back.
In response, the president decreed a 30% salary increase for doctors on the public payroll Thursday, plus a one-time bonus of 6,000 bolivars ($2,791) for workers in the public health sector.

He called the increase and the bonus “just and necessary,” and reaffirmed “the government’s commitment to struggle against the deviations that were provoked by capitalism,” such as the exploitation of workers.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3658

The program using Cuban doctors is great, and hopefully will benefit both Venezuela and Cuba. That said, Chavez's constant manipulation of markets has no doubt contributed to Venezuela´s inflation, officially 30% from 3/07 to 3/08. How long will those healthcare workers' raises last?