One backup plan to protect physicians’ labor rights would be to amend the Medical Care Act (醫療法), the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Medical Affairs said yesterday
Since last year, the ministry has repeatedly said that it would push for resident physicians to be included under the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法) by September next year.
In March, the ministry issued guidelines on the work hours and protection of residents’ labor rights, cutting weekly work hours from a maximum of 88 to 80, which were scheduled to into effect on Aug. 1.
However, the guidelines were sent to the Ministry of Labor, which found that the 80-hour weekly and 28-hour continuous work hour maximums were unacceptable, department Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said.
The Labor Standards Act stipulates that maximum normal work hours must not exceed eight hours per day, extended work hours must not exceed 12 hours and the weekly total should not exceed 40 hours.
The gaps between the maximum daily and weekly work hours for residents stipulated in the guidelines and those set for workers in general are too big, Shih said, but added that it would be difficult to maintain the medical system if maximum work hours for physicians are the same as for everyone else.
If the guidelines are unacceptable, then the Ministry of Health and Welfare could amend the Medical Care Act to include reasonable employment contracts, retirement pay and compensation for workplace injuries, he said.
While the labor insurance salary cap is set to NT$35,000 by the Labor Standards Act, which might be insufficient for workplace injury compensation for physicians, amendments to the Medical Care Act would use average salary as the basis for such compensation, providing doctors better protection, he added.
However, the Ministry of Health and Welfare still hopes that physicians’ labor rights can be protected by the Labor Standards Act as initially planned, Shih said, but added that it would also amend the Medical Care Act next year as a backup plan to protect the labor rights of physicians by September next year.
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