Finance ministry condemns upcoming doctors’ strike

The finance ministry on Saturday condemned the planned 48-hour strike by doctors in public hospitals that is set to paralyse the health system next week.

The doctors’ union Pasyki said doctors would hang up their coats at 7.30am on July 2 until 7.30am on July 4, with skeleton staff tending only to emergencies from casualty or complications from inpatients.

Doctors’ unions and state health services organisation (Okypy) have been in talks to try and resolve issues about doctors’ incentives.

The dispute revolves around the doctors’ pay. They claim that Okypy has ‘cheated’ on reimbursing them for work done in 2023 by arbitrarily interpreting an agreement in place that concerns remuneration based on an incentives system.

Doctors receive two types of incentives – horizontal (given to all) and vertical (based on performance). Overtime is part of the horizontal incentives and the reason for their strike.

 “The finance ministry wishes to express its full support to the efforts of the management of Okypy, for the improvement and upgrading of public health services,” the finance ministry said on Saturday.

The ministry said it recognises the need for continuous development and adaptation of health services to modern requirements and considers it necessary to continue the dialogue between all parties involved to find compromise solutions that focus on better service to patients.

But the ministry called on the doctors to have demands that are realistic to the financial capabilities of Okypy.

This, they said would be to “not undermine the ability of Okypy to provide high quality services in a competitive environment”.

The ministry said that any strike action “cannot and should not be either the solution or the answer to the problems”.

It stressed that such actions, “in addition to the suffering of patients, create a climate of confrontation, which makes it difficult to find mutual understanding and agreement”.

The ministry called on the unions to engage constructively in dialogue with the aim of finding a mutually beneficial solution that will ensure the uninterrupted operation of health services.

“Safeguarding public health is a priority for the government and the finance ministry stands ready to support any initiative that promotes this objective,” it concluded.

Announcing the strike earlier in the week, unions Pasydy and Pasyki in a joint statement said this was the only way forward after Okypy’s “uncompromising stance”.

In a press release, the doctors’ union Pasyki said casualty departments will also working with skeleton staff, examining patients in critical condition or who require immediate attention.

If the patient is deemed critical by the ambulance crew, then the patient will be referred to a private hospital.

All departments will operate with skeleton staff, while outpatient chemotherapy and other daily treatments will be moved to other providers.