Czech doctors protest conditions, threaten exodus

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2007

PRAGUE (AFP) — Czech doctors and leaders of their professional bodies demonstrated here Thursday over working conditions, warning of a mass exodus abroad unless conditions improve.

"Czech doctors work up to 300 hours a month and their overtime hours and emergency service often counts for half of their income," the head of the doctors' union, LOK, Martin Engel, told AFP.

"That must change. Otherwise doctors will go to where they are better appreciated," he added.

About 100 Czech doctors and leaders of their professional associations took part in the rally, taking the protest to the centre of Prague by boarding a boat which cruised up and down the Vltava river displaying banners with messages such as "Tired doctors," and "We will slip the anchor."

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