The 48-hour strike continued today, Wednesday, by government doctors in public hospitals since yesterday, following Monday's impasse at the meeting of the State Health Services Organization (OKYpY) and trade unions.
OKYpY has announced that it has taken measures to continue the treatment of patients in public hospitals and not to put patients' lives at risk.
Yesterday, the Minister of Health, Michalis Damianos, during his visit to the Ambulance Center, again appealed to the public sector doctors to end the strike and come back to the negotiating table, stressing that the mediation proposal discussed last Wednesday is available to them , with the aim of finding a holistic solution to the issue that has arisen.
Besides, during his visit to the First Aid Department of Lakatamia, early Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Damianos stated that "there is a solution, there must be a dialogue and good cooperation and we certainly ask the doctors to return to their work because I am sure that there can be a solution to this problem".
Asked how worried the Ministry is about a possible indefinite strike, a possibility the doctors are referring to, the Minister of Health said that “it's always a bad scenario to go on strike. As I said before, we invite them to the negotiating table, to find a solution with OKYpY. In essence, my proposal is there, our doors are open because this matter must end. We must not continue to make patients suffer."
In his statements yesterday at the Nicosia General Hospital, the President of the Pan-Cyprus Association of Government Doctors, Sotiris Koumas, said that "the doctors have been forced to go on strike, from the employer's side, which includes both the Minister of Health and the OKYPY to implement these for which they were warned for days, namely the 48-hour strike in the public sector hospitals".
The President of the doctors' branch of PASYDY, Moses Lambrou, said that "despite all the concerted efforts against the doctors by many, including the Mass Media", on the part of the strikers it is emphasized that "in this struggle what is at stake is the dignity and credibility of all those involved in these negotiations."
During the meeting on Monday, OKYpY insisted on the position that "any solution must be holistic" and that they must reach an agreement on financial incentives for doctors from 2023 to 2027. For their part, the doctors' unions proposed at the meeting performance, primarily, of the amount of money, concerning the years 2023-2024, assuring that they would quickly proceed to consultation, in relation to the parameters recorded for 2025-2027.
Source: KYPE
