ER doctors warn of serious staff shortages

The ER at Paphos general hospital runs a risk of not properly working on Monday due to a shortage of doctors, head of the government-employed doctors union Sotiris Koumas said on Saturday.

In an interview with the Cyprus News Agency, he said the issue of staff shortages at the hospital has reached a breaking point.

There are now eight doctors in the ER but with one of them having to take a few days off to get some rest, there will be a huge staffing issue.

Koumas added ER doctors are exhausted and overworked, while they are seriously considering resigning en masse.

A number of new doctors have been hired, set to begin work at the end of August. The union rep however said this was not good enough as they will take time to adjust to the department and this will also not solve the issue of staff shortages over the summer when other doctors go on holiday.