The recent statements by the Spokesperson of the State Health Services Organization and Director of Nursing Services, Charalambos Charilaou, that "doctors have no say and do not know the numbers" constitute institutional excess and unacceptable disparagement of doctors in public hospitals, according to the Pancyprian Union of Government Doctors.
According to its statement, PASYKI considers that publicly declaring that “doctors have no say” is “an attempt to silence the medical profession and undervalue its role, while at the same time “such public statements violate the limits of its position and are contrary to the obligation of institutional restraint and respect for the health professions.”
As PASYKI states, "the specific officer, as a public servant, must know — or be advised — that doctors exercise administrative responsibility within the clinics they manage, are subject to full medical, civil, criminal and disciplinary liability and are required by law to highlight irregularities, risks and deficiencies that affect patient safety."
He adds that “ignorance of this data is extremely worrying.”
PASYKI also states in its announcement that the front-line doctors who are its members, "unlike Mr. Charilaou, do not speak theoretically but document daily double shifts, exhausting overtime and operational gaps that may affect patient safety."
He notes that "the attempt to discredit these real findings by the central administration of OKYpY through statements by the Press Spokesperson is unfair, wrong, dangerous and deeply offensive to those who shoulder the burden of operating the hospitals."
Also, "the organization's admission of about 70 deficiencies does not negate our findings, it confirms them in the most official way, constituting a confession of serious understaffing in public hospitals."
PASYKI calls on "the central administration of OKYpY to finally assume its responsibilities and stop hiding behind the Press Spokesperson, to remind him of the limits of his institutional role, to retract the statements and to deal with the substance, namely understaffing, shifts and patient safety."
Source: KYPE
