Cyprus Mail 15 June 2022 - by Jonathan Shkurko
STOPPAGE HAS BEEN SUSPENDED FOR THE TIME BEING
Doctors working in state hospitals will hold a three-hours work stoppage on Thursday to protest against the upcoming weekend working hours at Gesy on-duty clinics.
The clinics are scheduled to operate out of normal working hours at state hospital outpatient clinics, and, as announced by Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) director Athos Tsinontides, they will be open for eight hours on Saturdays and for four hours on Sundays and national holidays.
Supported by the public doctors’ union Pasyki and by the public sector union Pasydy, doctors decided to call the strike from 9am to noon on Thursday to protest against the new weekend operating hours.
According to recent reports, state health services organisation Okypy was also opposed to the HIO decision regarding the new working hours of on-duty clinics before coming to an agreement with the latter.
The decision to call the strike for Thursday came hours before a scheduled meeting on the issue between HIO representatives and a delegation of the Cyprus Medical Association, that still took place.
Okypy spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou said the HIO was responsible for finding the best way in which the clinics will operate.
“We did not take decisions on the subject. The health ministry decided that the time is ripe to open on-duty clinics and handed the baton to the HIO,” he told the Cyprus News Agency.
“We simply provided the space for the new clinics in state hospitals.”
Speaking after Charilaou, HIO director Andreas Papaconstantinou said people have long called for on-duty clinics operating on the weekend.
“Our plans do not change. On-duty clinics will start operating, if not this weekend, then the next one,” he said.
Prior to the announcement of the work stoppage and after lengthy discussions, HIO and Okypy agreed that two on-duty clinics for adults and one for children will each operate in the Nicosia and Limassol districts, while one clinic for adults and one for children will serve all other districts.
The facilities will be staffed by Gesy GPs and paediatricians, as well as nurses and secretarial staff members.
The HIO has informed doctors that they will be paid €60 per each hour while on-duty, whereas nurses will be paid €30 hourly.
Unions Pasyki and Pasydy, however, in recent days slammed the decision to open on-duty clinics, claiming the current situation does not justify the extra effort that will have to be borne by health workers.
Moreover, in a joint statement, they said they did not agree with the fact that the HIO informed all parties concerned about the decision through an internal letter without consulting with them first, adding that allowing private doctors to operate in public hospitals “represents the first step towards their privatisations.”
On its part, the Cyprus Medical Association on Tuesday said the letter informing doctors about the opening of the new on-duty clinics took them by surprise, explaining that the decision of giving them the green light “was taken unilaterally and with complete lack of respect for the reasonable concerns moved by healthcare staff.”
“We therefore call on competent bodies to revoke their decisions and wait until ongoing consultations on the subject come to a conclusion,” the Cyprus Medical Association said in a statement.
Replying to the association, HIO later said consultations with doctors have indeed taken place, adding that on-call staff will be generously remunerated for its working hours.
