Health professionals in occupied Nicosia staged a work stoppage and a protest march on Monday after a urologist was stabbed by a patient in Famagusta.
Doctors and nurses in general hospitals and health centres started their march around 9 am and headed towards the “parliament” building.
The strikers held banners and sang chants saying “Who’s next?”, “This knife struck everyone”, and “Healthcare workers are here, where are the MPs?”
The protest was organised by the union of Turkish Cypriot nurses and childbirth assistants, the Turkish Cypriot doctors’ union and the union of pharmacists.
They stressed that incidents of violence against healthcare professionals are increasing.
The attack was condemned by politicians and civil society members in the occupied north, while the so-called “health ministry” announced that it will create a “committee against violence” in order to take measures against such incidents.
As Turkish Cypriot media reported, on Sunday, May 7, a 32-year-old man stabbed his urologist in Famagusta.
After his arrest, the 32-year-old told authorities that he attacked the doctor because he did not like the treatment he gave him.
Turkish Cypriot daily Avrupa wrote that the suspect had stabbed a lawyer in occupied Nicosia last week.
The doctor, who was knifed five times, is hospitalised at a Famagusta hospital with his condition described as stable.
