Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides said on Monday that he wants to meet nurses who are no longer working in the profession to hear why they left. He said the shortage of nursing staff was one of the biggest challenges facing the health system.
His comments, made on the morning programme ‘Proino Dromologio’, came a few days after the House Health Committee heard that 1,450 nurses in Cyprus are not practising. The committee was also told that 988 nurses under 40 are not renewing their licences to practise.
Charalambides said he could not give an exact number of non-practising nurses because he had heard different figures. He wants to hear from the nurses themselves and record their experiences and concerns.
“I want to hear these people, to see why they left the system,” he said. He acknowledged that bad experiences at work and low pay could be among the reasons.
The figure of 1,450 was given to the committee by a representative of the Cyprus Nursing and Midwifery Council, during a discussion on staff shortages and plans to employ nurses from non-EU countries.
Charalambides described the nursing shortage as long-standing and particularly significant, saying the health system was under heavy pressure. The ministry is tackling the problem in two ways, he said: with measures that can have an immediate effect, and with medium- and long-term measures.
The immediate measures include bills now before parliament on the controlled employment of nurses from non-EU countries.
In the medium term, the ministry is running a campaign to attract young people to nursing schools. He said universities had told him interest in nursing studies was rising. He also referred to a scholarship programme for nursing students, part of efforts to boost interest in the profession.
More than 6,000 nurses are currently employed, the minister said.
Asked about collective agreements in the private sector, Charalambides said such agreements exist in some cases, but that the issue was outside his remit.
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