About 30 striking junior doctors and supporters protested outside Health Minister David Clark's office in Dunedin on April 29. Photo: Peter McIntosh/ODT
Strikes by junior doctors this year have cost district health boards more than $19 million and there was no end in sight.
Details released to RNZ under the Official Information Act show 16 of the 20 DHBs have paid senior doctors $19.3 million since mid-January to provide cover.
Under an agreement reached before the strikes between the DHBs and the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, senior doctors can be paid between $250 and $500 extra per hour, on top of their normal salaries, for providing cover.
This is either for on-call duties including phone conversations, for extra ‘‘more onerous’’ duties, or hours worked outside normal duties, and for call-backs.
The data shows the five strikes have cost the Southern DHB $1.30 million.
