Cyprus nursing bills deepen dispute between private hospitals and state nurses’ unions
Private hospitals warn of bed closures amid a nursing shortage, while state nurses’ unions question staffing figures and raise concerns about safety and cheaper foreign labour.
Nicosia, Cyprus. Two government bills intended to tackle Cyprus’ shortage of nurses have sharpened disagreements between private hospitals and unions representing state nurses. Private hospitals have warned of bed closures, while the unions have raised concerns about patient safety and the possible replacement of current employees with lower-cost foreign workers.
Disagreement over staffing figures
Michalis Grigoriou, of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEV), told the Cyprus Mail that private healthcare providers were short of approximately 650 nurses. He welcomed the government’s decision to submit both bills to parliament tomorrow.
Savas Iakovou, general secretary of Pasyno, which represents nurses employed in state hospitals, firmly challenged the figures put forward by the private hospital sector. He characterised them as arbitrary assertions designed to sway the legislative process.
Grigoriou said public healthcare providers also experienced shortages, although their circumstances differed from those of private hospitals. He maintained that private hospitals dealt with roughly 65 per cent of cases.
Conditions for overseas recruitment
The planned amendments to the nursing and midwifery bill would permit private hospitals to recruit nurses from third countries through a controlled process subject to specified conditions.
Under the proposals, foreign nurses could account for no more than 10 per cent of nursing staff in any healthcare unit. They would also need a moderate command of Greek and would face limitations on holding senior positions.
Asked about the potential safety implications of language barriers, Grigoriou acknowledged that reaching the required level of Greek would be challenging for nurses recruited abroad. However, he said colleagues would help them and maintained that they could perform their duties without compromising patient safety.
Staffing rules questioned
Grigoriou also challenged Cyprus’ statutory staffing requirements. He claimed it was the sole European country whose legislation mandated a ratio of one nurse to five patients, whereas some other countries had ratios of one nurse to 15 patients.
This news item was generated automatically by Cyprus Inform from publicly available materials. Report an error →