About 650 state hospital doctors, set to receive €19.1 million over and above their salaries, overtime and allowances, to keep up financially with their private sector peers, are to go on strike demanding a further €2 million be added to that amount, a move state health services Okypy says could cost lives.
Pasyki union announced a 48-hour strike for the end of the month, after a meeting on Wednesday failed to lead to an agreement.
“We consider the strike unnecessary because the only thing it will achieve is inconvenience for patients. We are very concerned about the announcement that they may include the emergency and accident departments, because if this happens it is possible that lives will be in danger,” state health services (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilaou told the Cyprus Mail.
Okypy, he added, had “faith in the doctors and we believe they will take all necessary measures so that no lives are in danger.”
Charilaou said there was an agreement in place, by which both sides agreed publicly that a study by an independent firm regarding the additional financial incentives for 2023 would be accepted and binding.
Wednesday’s meeting also aimed at discussing 2024 as a transition period and to agree on a new incentive plan for 2025-2027, which would be in line with the aim of the organisation for financial autonomy, Charilaou added.
“Unfortunately, the doctors wanted to discuss 2023 only and did not accept the result of the independent audit firm, which was €2.5 million, and demanded €4.5 million, which was something that could not be accepted and so they walked out,” Charilaou said.
He noted that under the 2023 incentives, doctors have already received €16.6 million, which did not account for Okypy’s financial goals or revenue. “With the additional €2.5 million, the amount would reach €19.1 million. The doctors insist on €21.1 million,” he added.
Charilaou explained this amount would be shared out among 650 to 700 doctors and said there was no room for Okypy to alter its stance.
“The incentive plan was given at the outset of Gesy because we had a massive exodus of doctors from state hospitals to the private sector” to sign contracts with Gesy as private doctors, he said.
Another reason for the incentive plan was to bridge the gap between the income of private and state doctors, Charilaou added.
“Today, the money our doctors in state hospitals are receiving compares favourably with the revenue of private doctors, who additionally have the obligation to pay rent, hire staff, be self-employed, not be entitled to sick leave or annual leave inter alia,” he said.
Charilaou said that a re-evaluation of the current system indicates that “it needs revising.”
“The new system we are pursuing in cooperation with the doctors is a system that will be in line with the aims of the organisation, which is its financial autonomy,” he said.
Charilaou added that the cabinet, which convened on Thursday, approved “an action plan that will be monitored for Okypy, so that by the end of 2026 it will have become financially autonomous.”
Speaking after Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Health Minister Michael Damianos said the plan aimed at increasing revenue, reducing costs, paying for services, investing capital and making structural changes.
Damianos said that all involved parties have set up a workgroup, which will evaluate progress.
On Wednesday, Pasyki announced the 48-hour strike for the end of the month after negotiations failed. Pasyki head Sotiris Koumas described the proposed €2.5 million as a “disgraceful and offensive sum.”
