Mental health nurses start strike action

NURSES of the Mental Health Service, demanding better working and living conditions for staff and patients, began strike action yesterday, and threatened to go island-wide if their demands were not met by next week.

Nurses from various psychiatric institutes and wards across the island began strike measures yesterday. If a solution is not found by next Monday, these nurses will likely be joined by the remainder of nurses working for the Mental Health Service.

The President of the mental health nursing staff, Loukis Costandinidis, told state radio that the nurses gave the go-ahead for an island-wide strike starting from May 23 if the demands of the sector were not met. In the meantime, strikes in different parts of the country will continue.

“(Yesterday) from 7am, strike measures began in psychiatric wards in various points across the island. We have heard a report that around 12 people in the Limassol ward will not strike after being offered money, but that does not affect us. After being objectively informed of all pending problems, the general assembly decided immediately to continue with the strikes as planned,” he said.

The action, which is to escalate every two days, would effectively shut down all public and private psychiatric institutes across the island, although the Athalassa Psychiatric Ward will continue normal operation.

At a news conference last week, the nurses’ association highlighted the squalid conditions at the ward, saying both inmates and staff had to deal with sewage, mosquitoes and mice, and frequently lacked running water. Meanwhile, nurses say that the number of patients has greatly increased since the beginning of the year, and as a result staff were being overworked while some inmates were encouraged to transfer to old people’s homes.

Apart from working conditions, nurses have a string of other demands from the government, such as regulation of overtime pay.

Nurses appear to have ignored last week’s plea by Health Minister Andreas Gavrielides to call off the strike and enter into dialogue.

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