The Ministry of Health is attempting to cover the gaps from the absence or lack of doctors at public hospitals with only half-hearted solutions. The latest example is the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at the Larnaca hospital, which is currently operating with only two of the five doctors that are appointed there.
One of the doctors is on pregnancy leave, another is on sick leave, and a third doctor in the department is suspended. The Ministry of Health has responded by deciding that a certain number of shifts be covered by the Nicosia General Hospital, with emergency cases being sent to Nicosia on an ambulance.
What remains unknown, however, is how the Ministry will cover the gap that arises after the resignation a few days ago of one of the three doctors at the Department of Oncology at the Nicosia General Hospital.
The president of PASYKI, Soteris Koumas, said that the problem becomes more serious considering that a second doctor from the department is due to take his holidays soon.
The Ministry’s reactions, said Koumas, “show that there is no planning and no application of what has been decided,” noting that “it is time for a proper structure to be agreed upon, and for the departments of public hospitals to be adequately staffed.”
