The Taipei Doctors’ Union yesterday said the Ministry of Health and Welfare “bounced the check” of formulating a standard employment contract for resident physicians last month, affecting the rights of about 1,800 who were employed this month.
Union representatives chanted: “Bouncing the check of formulating a standard employment contract while current contracts are inhumane” and: “Ministry officials are sleeping while doctors’ rights are given away” at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
Union president Ellery Huang (黃致翰), a resident physician, said that as their rights are not protected by the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), the ministry held meetings this year to discuss a standard for healthcare facilities to refer to when employing resident physicians.
The union said that last year it had exposed unreasonable terms in contracts, including requiring physicians to “agree without questions to the transfer of personnel” and “be subject to a large number of penalties if they want to leave a healthcare facility early.”
Huang said that the Department of Medical Affairs began soliciting views this year and an official said in a meeting in June that a standard contract would be introduced for the transition period before resident physicians are to be included in the Labor Standards Act in September next year.
The standard contract protects their rights by requesting that transfers of personnel are made based on need and that subsidies be provided when doctors are transferred to remote areas, Huang said, adding that contracts would regulate penalties and prohibit healthcare facilities from unilaterally changing salaries.
However, while many resident physicians started work this month, the ministry has not announced the standard contract, he said, adding that the union estimates about 1,800 doctors are affected.
The union urged the ministry to announce the contract as soon as possible and ask healthcare facilities that have just signed employment contracts with new resident physicians to rewrite them based on the standard.
Department of Medical Affairs Director-General Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said that the people who would be affected by the contract have different views about its contents, so the department plans to hold more meetings to discuss the issues.
Hopefully the contents can be finalized and announced before the end of the year, Shih said.
The ministry’s plan to include resident physicians in the Labor Standards Act from September next year has not changed and in the meantime, employment terms in contracts that breach the act would be dealt with, Shih said.
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