PARAMARIBO – The nation’s medical specialists recently announced that they would beef up their strike. They have also sent a letter to President Chandrikapersad Santokhi to announce that they no longer trust the management team of the State Health Insurance Fund (SZF). The medical specialists expressed their disapproval over the way they are being treated by the SZF.

They also announced that they would take legal action against the SZF in an attempt to get the money that they still haven’t received. The medical specialists went on a strike over two weeks ago and although they do not provide medical treatment to SZF patients, the SZF has failed to respond. Both parties were supposed to negotiate but the negotiations haven’t started yet.

Last Wednesday the SZF informed the specialists that it would not be able to pay their for their services because it is dependent on the Ministry of Finance and Planning. The SZF can only start paying the medical specialists after having received the money from the Finance Ministry. The physicians deem this excuse an insult and made it clear that the SZF must not put the blame on the Finance Ministry. They explained that they had presented several solutions to the SZF but that all of these solutions were ignored. The specialists are therefore convinced that the SZF does not actually want a solution…[+]