31 Oct 2005

Call in Samoa to release doctor strike inquiry findings

3:09 pm on 31 October 2005

Samoan opposition MP's are calling for the government to make public the findings of the Commission of Inquiry into reasons for the doctors' strike.

Doctors in the public service are now into their eighth week of a strike to push for better pay and working conditions.

The Samoa Observer's Alan Ah Mu says Cabinet discussed the outcome of the inquiry last Friday.

He says the report is being kept confidential and is expected to be debated in parliament this week.

"It says that in the Commission's opinion there was a lapse in judgement inside the Ministry of Health for not addressing the problems that arose inside the public hospital."

But Alan Ah Mu says the inquiry favoured the doctors getting shorter working hours, more annual leave and increased pay.

He says the paper has obtained a copy of the report.