By Andria Kades
A CABINET proposal to ease the overloaded waiting lists in hospitals aims to encourage doctors to work overtime as long as they clock in using time cards, health ministry spokeswoman Maria Lantidou said on Friday.
Submitted by Health minister George Pamborides earlier this week, it outlined an ambitious plan to cut down on the waiting lists by the end of March targeting procedures such as orthopaedics and ophthalmology that will help some 5,000 patients.
Doctors, however, will have to accept a much contested issue that has caused them to go on strike in the past, which is to use time cards when arriving and leaving work.
Their union PASYKI had in the past said this was beneath them as doctors couldn’t stand in line with everyone else.
According to Lantidou, implementing the programme will not exceed €770,000 in costs that will actually save the ministry money as overtime pay will be cheaper than outsourcing to the private sector.
The ministry, however, will have to first find a way to bridge the gap with doctors as the programme aims to boost productivity during morning hours.
For instance, if in an eight-hour-day surgeon is scheduled for five surgeries that take an hour, this leaves three unproductive hours that need to be targeted thus making the ministry’s goal twofold: to boost productivity and have doctors working more hours that are put to good use.
On-duty staff will not participate in the programme as they will be dealing with incoming emergency situations.
A control committee will be set up, chaired by the hospital chief that will include the hospital department and clinic managers, as well as surgery nurses and managers who will implement the program.
The committee’s role will be to make sure the morning overtime hours are utilised, monitor the waiting lists and ensure the smooth running of operations with no clashes in schedules and operating theatres.
Doctors’ overtime pay has been plaguing the industry for years, with the troika of international lenders targeting the sector and in 2013, a compromise was reached with PASYKI that said they agreed out of good will, to not receive overtime rates between 3pm and 4.30pm, like they used to.
At the time, the Auditor-general said the state overpays doctors in overtime for working weekends or, in some cases, for working past civil service hours or else paying doctors their annual wage, again in overtime.
There are 15 different overtime pay scales, depending on doctors’ specialties, a number the ministry sought to reduce so people wouldn’t abuse the system.
