Filenews 15 February 2025
Ambulance crew rescuers will give ten days to the Ministry of Health and the State Health Services Organization before proceeding with the implementation of the measures decided and made known this morning.
The Association of Ambulance Crews, as we are informed, had given a deadline of a few hours to the Ministry of Health to give a written assurance that the bill it provides for the safeguarding of their profession will be forwarded to Parliament for a vote within the next few days.
The Minister of Health gave the written assurance to the Association since, according to Filenews information, after almost a year, the Legal Service, where the bill has been in place since April 2024, pledged to deliver it to the Ministry on Monday to be submitted to Parliament.
The Minister's initial written reply to the rescuers' association was not considered satisfactory to lift the measures announced, however, a while ago Michalis Damianos returned citing specific dates for the submission of the bill to Parliament.
Regarding the reinforcement of the staffing of the emergency call program, the SHSO informed the Association that next Thursday its board of directors will discuss and inform about the number of rescuers that will be hired.
In statements to Filenews, SHSO spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said that "in keeping with the agreement reached in the presence of the Minister of Health, it has promoted the procedures for hiring a number of rescuers. Since the Agency took over the management of the ambulance service, great strides have been made. New ambulance stations have been created and a large number of nurses and rescuers have been hired," Charilaou said, adding that "any measures that have been announced we consider unnecessary at this time."
"Any trade union issues," he argued, "should not affect the safety and health of patients, especially emergencies."
"Since the Agency has started implementing the measures it has committed to implement, we believe that dialogue must continue without affecting patients."
Regarding the safeguarding of the profession of rescuer and the delay observed in the promotion of the relevant bill to Parliament for voting, Mr. Charilaou said that "as far as the safeguarding of the profession is concerned, the SHSO states that it is in favour", but as he said, "this is an issue beyond the competences of the Organization".
