An update September 5th 1996
To all those that have sent us comments and support we wish to express our
sincere thanks and send this message to keep you informed.
The situation in the dispute between GP“s and the Ministry of Finance is
basically unchanged since August 8th when our last message was conveyed.
Negotiations continued to no avail until a week ago when the State
Negotiator decided to discontinue them. We held a national conference for
GP“s in Reykjavik on August 12th-14th with an attendance of over a hundred
GP“s and again in Akureyri, North Iceland on September 2nd where there were
around seventy. A number of doctors have left the country after over five
weeks unemployment and no wages, to do locums abroad, mainly in Norway and
Sweden.
One possible reason for the recent stalemate might have been the fact, that
the Ministry half expected the Icelandic Medical Association not to support
us. There was even rumour that the IMA might split up at it“s premature
annual meeting yesterday, the annual meeting being planned on September
20th-21st. This was a semi-acute meeting called for by 108 specialists who
had planned to confront GP“s and the Ministry of Health on the Ministry“s
recent statement/policy on Primary health care. This premature meeting
actually resulted in the opposite. There was tremendous support for our
cause as regards the wage war, and even if there are colleagues from other
specialties who don“t favour general practice, to a great extent the
Ministry of Health“s policy will be acceptable to most doctors. There are
fields which still have to be discussed further with the IMA, such as the
elective referral system.
The IMA comes out much stronger after this meeting and we GP“s highly
appreciate the moral support of our colleagues.
Katrin Fjeldsted, fax 354-551-4595
President of The Icelandic College of Family Physicians
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