Filenews 1 May 2025 - by Marilena Panayi
With the financial issues that concern them first on the agenda, special doctors of the General Health System (GHS) are preparing to proceed with the establishment of a trade union organization with the aim of claiming benefits and satisfaction of their demands that have not been promoted, as they claim, to date, neither by the scientific societies to which they belong nor by the Pancyprian Medical Association.
They claim that they were "dragged" to join the GHS, and characterize their compensations and especially the €6 they receive from their patients, as a co-payment, as humiliating.
The letter/call of a group of GHS specialist doctors to their colleagues has been circulating among the doctors of the System for some time. It is signed by more than 20 doctors of various specialties and is not addressed to doctors who are "paid specialist doctors of private clinics and the OCYPY as well as personal doctors and paediatricians".
They raise "operational issues, financial issues and issues of representation and communication".
"We want to focus on discussing the two issues (financial and communication, representation). (…) Due to the structure of the GHS based on the DRGs, the units of gravity of the medical procedure and the "package" of the doctor's and hospital's remuneration, they say, "no one could say exactly how much a specialist doctor would be paid. (…) In essence, the specialist doctor found out about his remuneration after joining the GHS".
"A common finding of all of us", they add: "The income of the specialist doctor with his inclusion in the GHS was reduced by 50%-70% compared to what he had as a private doctor before the GHS".
(Ed. The letter mentions specific examples, which, however, would be difficult to analyze as the amount of the final compensation differs from hospital to hospital based on the compensation plan and the list of qualitative criteria applied by the HIO. At the same time, the amount corresponding to the doctor's fee is not determined by the HIO).
An important issue, which has been raised several times for discussion, is raised by doctors about the amount of the unit price at which they are compensated. (ed. this issue is also of concern to the HIO).
''For a 20-minute visit to a specialist doctor, the GHS will pay €8.80 plus €6.00 per patient. That is, the specialist doctor will receive the astronomical amount of €14.80 (...).''
Citing their operating expenses, the doctors add: "Given that the fee for a visit to a specialist doctor before the GHS was about €50, how does the HIO come and offer us €14.80? (…) And our ultimate humiliation is that it forces us to take €6.00 from the patient."
"Under these circumstances, someone will ask 'but since this is the case, why did you join the GHS'? The answer is simple. We didn't join (at least most of us) but we were dragged into the GHS because we had no other choice."
The doctors clarify: "We have no problem with the PIS and the medical companies (...) They simply do not have the power because they are not trade unions, they cannot impose their decisions on their members and because they are made up of different groups of doctors (the PIS) who have different interests (individuals, government, personal doctors, paediatricians, specialist doctors, etc.)."
"We believe that the establishment of a purely trade union organization is imperative and necessary. (…) This organization will be solid, it will deal exclusively with trade union issues. (…) In conclusion, we remind you of the well-known "without GHS doctors, it is not possible" as long as the doctors themselves believe it, we say".
