A discrepancy between the Pancyprian Medical Association and the Legal Service allows doctors who are subject to negligence trials to continue practicing medicine, a situation that can put patients at immediate risk.
The case of a gynaecologist who saw the light of day last Monday and who is the subject of a number of complaints of medical negligence ("Politis"), brought the issue back to the fore for good. For the doctor in question, there was a complaint that he reassured his patient while she was dying of stage three cancer (21/2/2025).
"F", wanting to find out whether allegations made during the week are substantiated, went back in time four years, ending up with a letter from June 2022.
The correspondence we obtained documents that the Pancyprian Medical Association (PIS) was proposing an amendment to the Doctors Law in such a way as to make it possible to suspend the license to practice the medical profession by court order. The provision enabled the president of the Disciplinary Board of the PIS to apply to the Court before which a doctor is accused, to issue a relevant decree against the latter.
However, the Legal Service put an end to the issue in its infancy. Putting forward as a basic position that the existing prescribed procedure already gives the Disciplinary Board possibilities for measures, he rejected the recommendation. And this despite the fact that the PIS has repeatedly expressed the position that with the procedure provided for by the Law, it cannot act effectively towards the preservation of the medical profession and, by extension, in the interest of the patient.
What did he suggest?
According to documents submitted to us, discussions on the amendment of the Doctors Law (amended in June 2025) had begun in 2021. The PIS had forwarded its positions to the Ministry of Health, which were forwarded to the Legal Service. Among the provisions is the suspension of the license to practice the medical profession against a Doctor accused before a Court of the Republic. A competent official of the Legal Service, responding to the Ministry of Health on 3/6/2022, rejected the request of the PIS.
We quote an indicative excerpt from the draft of the PIS proposal obtained by "F":
"6B. (1) At the request of the President (i.e. of the Disciplinary Board) or, in the event of the latter's impediment, the Vice-President of the Council, before the President of the Nicosia District Court (hereinafter and for the purposes of this Article to be referred to as "the Court"), the Court may order the temporary suspension of the registration of a doctor and/or a Society of Doctors from the Register of Doctors and/or the Register of Societies of Doctors; respectively ("hereinafter and for the purposes of this Article it will be called "the Suspension of Registration").
(…) (3) At the hearing of the application, if the Court is satisfied that it is in the interest of public health and/or the interests of the health of individuals and/or in the public interest and/or in the interest of the respondent doctor and/or without influence and regardless of the above, it considers that there are such exceptional circumstances as to make it just and proper to issue a Suspension of Registration Order, may proceed with:
(a) the issuance of a Suspension of Registration Order for a period not exceeding two years or for such a longer period, if the Court considers that such exceptional circumstances exist that make it necessary to issue a Suspension of Registration Order for a period exceeding two years, and/or (...)".
The rejection by the Legal Service came on June 3, 2022. In her answer, she noted the following as the main reason: "(...)In our opinion, it does not serve any purpose given that the Disciplinary Board can impose a suspension of the practice of the profession for any period of time it deems appropriate, after the trial of a disciplinary case. Therefore, the attempted temporary suspension of the registration of a doctor (doctor's license) by court order is contrary to the prescribed disciplinary procedure, which provides the guarantees for a fair trial and applies and/or maintains the presumption of innocence of the Respondent to the prosecution, until the imposition of the disciplinary penalty".
"They have no competence"
In many cases PIS, he stressed that it does not have sufficient tools in identical cases. An excerpt from an announcement dated 2/2/2024 is characteristic: "(...)The Pancyprian Medical Association or the Doctors' Disciplinary Council does not have the authority to suspend the registration of a doctor in the doctors' register as a precaution and before a doctor is convicted of a disciplinary offense. The PIS has long recommended to the competent authorities the establishment of a relevant legal framework that allows the suspension of the license to practice as a doctor when an investigation is pending against him for a serious criminal offense or a criminal case related to a serious criminal offense."
