in-cyprus 16 June 2022 - by Annie Charalambous
The weekend operation of state hospitals is again up in the air after the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) has agreed to put off the implementation of the extended hours until July.
The new hours were expected to start this weekend and the last-minute decision came amidst imminent strike action by state doctors who have now suspended the one scheduled for Thursday morning.
However, the Government seems to have the opposite view on this and that is why the Minister of Health has called an all-hands meeting early on Thursday to be briefed on this issue, Philenews reports.
Specifically, the meeting will bring together representatives from the HIO, Cyprus Medical Association and state health services organisation (Okypy).
Under the new operation hours, the clinics are set to operate out of normal working hours at state hospital outpatient clinics.
Also, they will be open for eight hours on Saturdays and for four hours on Sundays and national holidays.
The move brought strong reactions by doctors’ unions Pasyki and Pasydy, saying they were not consulted before HIO decided to implement the new weekend hours.
