Doctors call off overtime ban

GOVERNMENT doctors yesterday called off their overtime ban and began three-day negotiations with the Health and Finance Ministries on the introduction of an on-call system.

Government doctors belonging to the Pasiky union began the ban on February 14 over delays in implementing the on-call system to resolve disputes about overtime.

A proposal put forward by Health Minister Frixos Savvides on February 1 suggested doctors sleep at hospitals when on call and be paid a fee every time they carried out a duty. Pasiky agrees with the proposal on principal, but the Finance Ministry failed to agree rates of pay, sparking the walkout.

Government doctors agreed to handle emergency cases and less severe instances were diverted to the private sector at the Health Ministry’s expense.

The Finance Ministry has since suggested a fee, which has not been made public.

Pasiky president Dr Stavros Stavrou yesterday said the decision to stop the overtime ban had been independent of the start of negotiations.

But he added the action was a sign of good will.

Stavrou said that the Ministries’ final proposal would be presented to the union’s members at a special general meeting on Monday.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.