THIRTY clinics around the island face the spectre of closure if the government decides to implement a law regulating the minimum number of nurses employed in private health care institutions.
Under a new law regulating the operation of private practices, clinics need to provide 1.2 nurses per patient. Failure to do so will result in the closure of the clinic. However, the Medical Association has long said staff shortages are a huge problem for local clinics as nursing graduates are all taken up by the public sector.
Backed by private practitioners, the clinics are lobbying the Health Ministry and parliament to postpone implementation of the legislation and consider amending it.
The Pancyprian Doctors’ Association also plans to raise a host of other issues touching upon co-operation between the public and private sectors of health care. In effect, they envisage a National Health System (NHS) with uniform requirements and rules for both sectors, which is not the case now.
For example, last year, professional nurses went on strike protesting a clause in the amended law on nursing and midwifery, which allowed the employment of non-professionals in the private sector.
In the absence of a national system, the state has had to regulate health care by enacting legislation which often backfires and needs to be amended, particularly when the interests of professional groups are threatened.
But while the NHS is unlikely to happen anytime soon, clinics face a more pressing situation: in the next few days they will be served notice from the Inspector of Private Health Care Units. The Inspector’s office will effectively inform the affected clinics of its intention to suspend their operations because of non-compliance with nursing criteria.
Already, 14 other clinics have received similar notice, but it is not clear whether they are given a deadline in which to comply.
According to press reports, between them the 30 or so clinics have a total of 120 nurses.
And a new round of inspections could add more clinics to the blacklist. There are 87 licensed clinics on the island.
