Icelanders could face a healthcare crisis

Minister of health Kristján Þór Júliusson said at Parliament today that if the planned strike action goes forward at the beginning of next year, "Icelanders could be facing a completely different and much more serious healthcare situation than for the past few weeks, far too many weeks." The opposition is calling for the appointment of a special committee to resolve the strike. 

Júlíusson said that he share the oppositions concerns about the situation in the doctors' strike and how slowly negotiations had been going. Another meeting between doctors and the state negotiator is scheduled for tomorrow. 

Anasthesiologist Einar Páll Indriðason who has practiced at the National University Hospital over the past thirteen years has just handed in a letter of resignation due to the fact that no resolution is in sight. 

"It was a very hard decision to make, but I think its the only thing I can do so that people will listen to the demands of doctors." In a facebook post on a  facebook page hosted by doctors on strike. Among the reasons for his resignation Indriðason states unrealistic cuts to the hospital budget, and the fact that doctors receive lower pay in Iceland than abroad which means that the country is losing many of its doctors. "There's nothing happening," he said. "I only foresee a continuing strike in the New Year."

Related article: Still no resolution in doctors' strike.