Cyprus Mail 11 November 2019 - article by Jonathan Shkurko
The regulation change imposes one year of training before trainee specialists take their final exam that will allow them to start working in Greece
The Cyprus medical council announced on Monday that medical trainees will participate in a three-hour strike in all public hospitals on November 13.
The strike will last from 10am to 1pm and is in protest over problems related to taking the final examinations needed to qualify as a specialist doctor in Greece, the association said in a statement.
The statement said that doctors had shown enough patience but, despite assurances from the Cyprus health ministry that the issue would be solved, the response from its Greek counterpart has been unsatisfactory.
“The strike hopes to publicise the matter and solve the issues step-by-step in the coming days,” the statement says.
State doctors’ union Pasyki representative Aliki Anasthasiou explained the reason behind the announced strike.
“For more than three years now, all medical trainees in Cyprus have seen a regulation change that imposes one year of training before their final specialisation exam that will allow them to start working in Greece,” she told Cyprus Mail.
“Many of the people who have to train for a year after they finished their medical specialisation have families and it will be very difficult for them to wait another year before they can start working properly.”
The regulation was implemented in 2013 and was targeted at medical students who finished their undergraduate studies in 2014.
“Greece has a lack of doctors,” said Anasthasiou, “but having to face another year of training at the age when people finish their medical specialisations creates problems. We don’t understand the reasons behind the new regulation”.
About 200 medical trainees from hospitals all over Cyprus are expected take part in the three-hour strike.
