State hospital doctors will be going on a 48-hour strike at the end of the month, Pasyki union announced on Wednesday after another failed attempt to clinch a deal with state health services (Okypy).

The point of contention lies with financial incentives the doctors want paid out for 2023. A study by an independent audit firm in July put the sum at €2.5 million, while unions seek €4.5m.

A meeting held earlier in the day aimed at bridging the differences yielded no results, and according to Pasyki head Sotiris Koumas, the strike will be carried out at the end of the month.

Koumas called the €2.5 million a “disgraceful and offensive sum”. He said “strong disagreements” were expressed during the meeting.

An exact date for the strike has not been set yet and it remains unclear if E&A departments will participate, though Koumas said talks would be underway to make a decision.

He charged the study was ready since September “but for some reason, they did not have the honesty and courage to inform us.”

Koumas called on the health minister to take a stance. “He is the political chief, he appoints the Okypy board and had a personal involvement in the negotiations.”

“Doctors are on the front line day and night,” he added.

The union head also said discussions for 2024 incentives will not be carried out in parallel with this year’s talks.

“Okypy’s proposal for 2023 was rejected. Our position is that we will not discuss for 2024, 2025 or 2027 if a deal isn’t struck for 2023,” he said.

“We are demanding doctor’s earnings for 2023.”

The dispute revolves around the doctor’s pay. They claim that Okypy has ‘cheated’ on reimbursing them for work done in 2023 by arbitrarily interpreting an agreement in place that concerns remuneration based on an incentives system.

Doctors receive two types of incentives – horizontal (given to all) and vertical (based on performance). Overtime is part of the horizontal incentives.

According to Koumas, a day earlier, Okypy sent two slides listing a figure for 2024. “The agreement they are citing does not give them the right to discuss granting compensation for two years at the same time. It is only for each year.”

The threat of a 48-hour strike was first touted in June this year, where it was the first time in 20 years a protest of this scale was to unfold.

The strike was eventually called off following extensive discussions between the doctors’ unions, Okypy and a direct intervention from President Nikos Christodoulides.

The dispute over pay has been simmering for months. Earlier this year, the spokesman for Okypy had angered state doctors by stating their salaries were as high as those of physicians working in the private sector.

In fact, argued the spokesman, overall state doctors are better off than their private-sector counterparts: whereas the wages are about the same, doctors with a private practice have to pay out of pocket for staff and other operating expenses.

Hitting back at the time, Pasyki asked why then are public-sector doctors transferring to the private sector.

Earlier this year, an audit office report for 2022 slammed Okypy, accusing it of blatant disregard for how it spends public funds.

A medical professional earned just shy of €60,000 but bagged an extra €137,000 in overtime pay. Staff were shown to be making anywhere between 220 to 300 per cent more over their earnings by listing overtime.

More so, the audit office revealed “there is no approved policy on keeping to schedule or to monitor arrival and departure time from work.”

It identified multiple employees out of a sample of inspections never even scanned their cards when getting to or leaving work.