Two Greek doctors, who were recruited by the Accident and Emergency Department of the Paphos Hospital walked away from their employment after citing inappropriate behaviour and bullying from their colleagues and in the presence of patients and their companions.
One of the Greek doctors sent a letter to the Ministry of Health, formally denouncing a specific doctor at the Paphos Hospital and asking for the case to be investigated.
Health Minister, Constantinos Ioannou himself made the complaint public yesterday, claiming that he had instructed the State Health Services Organisation “to act accordingly”.
“Two doctors from Greece have left the Paphos Hospital, denouncing inappropriate behaviour by their colleagues as their reason for leaving. The State Health organisation should look into this, because we can’t be finding doctors and then they leave because of someone’s behaviour,” the minister said.
The minister’s complaints were commented on by doctor’s unions differently, with the civil servants’ union PASYDY also requesting an investigation into the two incidents and referring to “unacceptable racist behaviour against colleagues from Greece” while the other union PASYKI criticise dIoannou for “targeting doctors”.
Specifically, the head of doctors’ branch of PASYDY civil servants’ union, Agathoklis Christofides characterised the incident as “unacceptable behaviour”, spoke of “racism against colleagues from Greece” and voiced “the support of Civil servant’s Union PASYDY to the doctors who were bullied by other doctors”. As Christofides said, “we, as a branch, invite the State Health Organisation to investigate these very serious complaints.”
On its part, the Pancyprian Union of Government Practitioners PASYKI, approached the matter in a different way. The Minister of Health, “in the absence of any other arguments, unjustly and deliberately, without presenting any evidence, has again targeted doctors working in the Accident and Emergency Department of the Paphos Hospital”. The union claims that Constantinos Ioannou has reproduced earlier statements by the chairman of the House Health Committee stressing that between then and now a month had passed and that the State Health Services Organisation should have already investigated the matter.
The Ministry of Health indirectly responded to PASYKI in a written statement: “it would be interesting to find out from the Union, which with great warmth and at every opportunity launches attacks against my person, what actions it has itself taken to examine their colleagues’ complaints. Have the stakeholders been informed about the incident? And if so, what have they done or what do they intend to do?”
According to Phileleftheros newspaper, the complaints of both Greek doctors are already under investigation by State Health Organisation, while the executive director of the Limassol – Paphos department was made aware of the situation from the very beginning.
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