State doctors’ union Pasyki on Monday condemned an “unprovoked violent physical attack” on a psychiatrist at Limassol general hospital.

The attack took place on August 18, though details thereof have not been released to the public, except for to say that “the psychiatrist’s life was in danger”.

Pasyki turned its guns on the state health services (Okypy), saying “the medical officers employed in the structures of public hospitals have been left unprotected to be victims of the administrative and organisational inadequacy of Okypy, as well as the unequal treatment between providers of the general health plan”.

They called on the health ministry and Okypy to “focus their attention on the issue of safety of medical workers at their workplace”.

They also instructed their members to “show zero tolerance to any kind of violence in their workplace”, and said that “reaction measures” to the incident are under consideration.

It is not the first time medical staff have raised safety issues in hospitals. This time last year a physician was injured in an altercation involving three men.