HEALTH MINISTER Stavros Malas is determined to throw the “rotten apples” out of the system that is allowing a small group of doctors to make abusive overtime claims.
During a current affairs show on the state broadcaster yesterday, the minister was asked to comment on allegations of doctors taking bribes, doctoring surgery records to get paid for surgeries they did not perform and organising surgeries unnecessarily on weekends to get paid overtime.
Malas responded that the ministry was “determined to throw the rotten apples out of the system”. He added that the image being painted as a result of a few doctors was unfair on the rest.
The minister also voiced plans to change the current system of overtime payments which has seen some doctors earning up to €200,000 a year, with overtime counting for nearly half their total salary.
At one point during the television programme, one doctor called in to accuse another doctor of getting a holiday home by the sea by one patient he had treated for nine months.
Former head of the government doctors’ union Stavros Stavrou yesterday blamed the health ministry for wrongly negotiating separate overtime agreements with small groups of doctors resulting in today’s situation where some doctors are earning the same in overtime as they do in annual salary.
Asked to comment on recent revelations in parliament about doctors’ seemingly excessive overtime payments, Stavrou said: “The ministry made the mistake of negotiating many separate agreements with small groups of doctors, some of which are not in the state’s favour.
“But since the agreement has been made, the state is obliged to honour it,” he added.
Stavrou said it was highly likely some public doctors were getting “substantial sums” due to the nature of the agreements signed between the ministry and groups of doctors organised by their different specialisations.
He highlighted that those doctors were not cheating the system, or stealing from the taxpayer, but had simply negotiated an advantageous deal.
The system itself was irregular and distorted and had to be stopped, he argued. “It was a mistake negotiating these separate agreements,” said Stavrou.
Politis yesterday reported that head of the public doctors’ union, Dr Vaios Partasides, had earned up to €96,000 in overtime payments, out of a total €200,000 annual salary in 2009. The same figure was heard in the House Watchdog Committee earlier this week.
The head of the radiology unit at the Nicosia general hospital told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the figure was “inaccurate” though “close” to the real figure.
Partasides acknowledged that the sum may seem offensive in today’s economic climate but that if a doctor worked those hours without any irregularities, then the state was obliged to pay them.
“We’ve been saying for the last five years that the system for overtime payments is wrong and needs to be changed. We made proposals but were ignored until two weeks ago, when the new minister responded positively to our calls,” said Partasides.
Stavrou said the union had proposed in the past that instead of having doctors on call, for which they get a small percentage of their salary- around one tenth- and then additionally paying them overtime whenever they are actually called in for work, the government should introduce “resident doctors” on a fixed salary, as they do with intensivists, doctors specialised in critical care medicine. The latter have pre-negotiated salaries, with different rates set for weekdays, weekends, holidays etc.
According to Stavrou, Malas has acknowledged the system is distorted and needs changing.
Meanwhile, the government announced this week it will appoint an independent official to investigate whether any “disciplinary or criminal offenses” have been committed in connection with abuse of the overtime system.
Malas said on Wednesday he was aware of one such complaint, which concerns two doctors at the Limassol general hospital.
The report came up during a meeting of the House Watchdog Committee earlier this week where lawmakers heard that a doctor submitted an overtime claim for a surgery that he did not take part in.
According to yesterday’s Phileleftheros, the investigation will look at a number of irregularities regarding the different recording of data in hospital surgery books and patient records. A preliminary investigation by a hospital official found cases where doctors earned double or more in payment than their colleagues working in the same clinic and performing the same tasks.
The independent investigator will also be tasked with establishing whether a number of weekend surgeries were performed unnecessarily at the weekend to increase overtime payment.
The paper said the Auditor General’s office was running a separate investigation into two other doctors, again, concerning large sums paid in overtime in 2009.
The public doctors’ union has argued that the large sums were justifiable due to the huge workload, as doctors have been taking part in a ministry programme aimed at reducing waiting lists.
