Approximately 170 nurses, mostly young professionals, commute daily from Limassol and Paphos to Nicosia to staff the capital’s General Hospital, with many resigning due to the strain, according to a nursing union.
“These people work shifts and afterwards take the bus back to their cities. For Paphos, we even face the problem that there is no regular bus service on weekends and holidays,” Prodromos Argyrides, president of the nursing branch of PASYDY union, told Phileleftheros.
The commuting workforce includes 135 nurses from Limassol and about 35 from Paphos, many of whom find the arrangement untenable, particularly after night shifts.
“A person cannot commute from Paphos to Nicosia after night shifts for an extended period. They resign and leave. For example, out of 30 nurses hired in recent months, six have already departed,” Argyrides said.
He linked the staffing crisis to two interconnected problems: prohibitively high rental costs in Limassol and Cyprus’s existing nursing shortage.
Limassol hosts the Cyprus University of Technology (TEPAK), which houses the state nursing school, but the city’s soaring rents deter potential students from Nicosia, Larnaca and free Famagusta areas from pursuing nursing careers.
“For several years, we’ve observed insufficient nursing graduates from Nicosia, and this trend appears to be intensifying,” the union leader explained.
The increased demand for nursing staff due to nationwide shortages provides alternative employment opportunities closer to home for those unwilling to commute to the capital.
Argyrides called for government intervention, suggesting solutions such as establishing a TEPAK branch in Nicosia or providing housing subsidies for Limassol.
“The nursing shortage will be even greater in coming years if we don’t address it now. We had some admissions to nursing schools this year, but the problem isn’t solved with 100 or 200 nurses annually. We must also consider that around 100 nurses will retire from the public sector over the next two years,” he warned.
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