Government eliminating the role of nurses, unions say

By Evie Andreou

Nurses unions PASYDY and PASYNO, do not agree with the final draft of the bill on hospital autonomy because they said the role of the nursing branch was overlooked.

They threaten measures unless their proposals are heard.

Last week Health Minister Philippos Patsalis presented the final draft of the revised bill, and paved the way for a final intensive 15-day dialogue between all interested parties.

The aim was to have the bill voted before the parliament summer recess. Hospital autonomy, which is a basic pre-requisite for the implementation of the National Health Scheme (NHS), is slated to be introduced by next January.

After scrutinising the draft, the two unions announced separately that they rejected the bill’s proposals.

The PASYDY branch said the draft was a mere repetition of the previous text and that their proposals were not taken into consideration.

What was most important to them, the union said, was to keep their administrative autonomy as nurses and midwives, which has been in place since the Republic was founded.

“Indicative is the diligent omission of references like ‘nursing branch’ and ‘nurses’, as well as ‘midwifery’ and ‘midwives’,” the union said.

Nurses and midwives are the biggest group of health professionals working in hospitals PASYDY said, but in the proposed bill, just sidelines them as a group.

PASYNO said that the government was pushing forward with the bill without resolving the issues of the nursing branch, which was not even mentioned in the draft.

“The government has chosen to eliminate the role of the nurses,” it said.

Both unions announced separately they had registered all concerns and suggestions which will be put forth for discussion.

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