With limited room for further disagreements and conflicts, especially after the President of the Republic clarified the government’s position by essentially fully supporting what the Minister of Health had proposed on Sunday night, the State Health Services Organisation (SHSO) and doctors backed down and agreed to return to dialogue to bridge their mainly financial differences.
As a result, the planned 48-hour strike by doctors, which was set to begin today, was suspended.
Both sides will now await the completion of the study to be conducted within the next ten days (or even sooner) by an independent expert, concerning the amount doctors will receive as a financial incentive for the services they provided under the General Healthcare System (GHS) during the last four months of 2023.
It is reminded that the PASYDY and PASYKI unions had announced the 48-hour strike due to their disagreement with SHSO regarding the amount of incentives doctors would receive, beyond their monthly salary, for 2023.
The Organisation had taken into account the reduction in revenue recorded due to changes made by the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO) in September 2023 when calculating the relevant fund, a practice the unions did not accept. In simple terms, the two sides were “separated” by about €1.5 million. The doctors argued that SHSO owed them this amount, while the Organisation resisted.
The intervention of the Minister of Health occurred on Friday afternoon when he attempted, through telephone negotiations, to persuade the doctors to suspend their planned strike. The behind-the-scenes negotiations lasted throughout the weekend, and by Sunday evening, it appeared that there was ground for reaching an agreement.
On this basis, an extraordinary meeting was convened yesterday at the office of the Minister of Health, with the participation of SHSO, the unions, and the Cyprus Medical Association.
During the first two hours of the meeting, the situation had reversed, and both sides were once again intransigent, with the Minister of Health momentarily losing his temper and addressing both sides in raised tones.
In fact, the Minister, as we are informed, briefed the President of the Republic on the impasse, prompting Nikos Christodoulides to immediately contact Michael Damianos and request to speak directly with the representatives of the unions and SHSO.
According to reports, the President clarified the government’s position and urged the doctors to engage in dialogue, simultaneously requesting SHSO to show goodwill and proceed with new negotiations.
The initial reaction of the unions was negative, despite Nikos Christodoulides’ urging. However, after another hour of intense disagreements, an agreement was reached when a new proposal was put on the table and eventually adopted by all.
Nonetheless, the process of drafting the announcement was also not easy, taking considerable time until the parties reached a mutually acceptable text.
Finally, after over four hours, the meeting concluded, and the Minister of Health announced the outcome.
“After lengthy negotiations, a positive conclusion was reached, and the announced 48-hour strike by government doctors from 2-4 July is suspended.”
During the meeting, the following were agreed upon:
- Formulation of a new framework for the 2024-2026 agreement with the participation of the Minister of Health as a mediator and the Cyprus Medical Association as an observer. The deadline for formulating this framework is set for 31 October 2024.
- Withdrawal of the OKYPY Board of Directors’ proposal dated 25 June 2024, which provided financial incentives based on the Organisation’s actual revenues.
- For the financial aspect concerning the year 2023, it was decided that an independent firm, mutually acceptable to both sides, will review the financial data based on the existing agreement. The outcome presented by the independent firm will be binding for the involved parties.
The intervention of the President of the Republic was mentioned in the announcement of the meeting’s outcome by the Minister of Health himself.
Other open issues might be affected until balance is achieved, as even though the strike is suspended, the matter is not over.
Yesterday’s meeting had a positive outcome regarding the suspension of the doctors’ strike actions. A 48-hour strike in public hospitals would have created numerous problems in the proper and safe service of patients.
However, the start of the dialogue for the formulation of a new agreement concerning the amount of financial incentives received by specialist public doctors based on SHSO’s revenues from the HIO is uncertain if it will have a positive end or at least proceed smoothly, as there are already substantive disagreements between the two sides.
The fact that the Ministry of Health will participate as a supervisor in the consultation and the Cyprus Medical Association as an observer offers some positive indications. However, it is already being discussed behind the scenes that members of the CMA’s leadership come from the ranks of the government doctors’ union.
Additionally, the fact that the Minister of Health will participate in this specific dialogue, which will last until at least the end of October, might lead to the postponement of discussions on other significant pending issues in the Health sector, such as the bill for the establishment of university clinics and hospitals in Cyprus.
This issue alone is a cause of intense disagreements among the involved parties, including the public doctors’ unions.
In any case, the situation will begin to clear up with the completion of the independent study of the financial data.
According to yesterday’s announcements, the result of this calculation will be binding for both sides (SHSO and the unions).
