Every attempt by the government to address the nursing shortage at private hospitals has been blocked by unions. Some private hospitals and clinics are at risk of not being able to operate with the number of nurses they have and have received warnings from the authorities about this, but there is nothing they can do because there are no nurses in the labour markets.

Earlier in the year, the health ministry prepared legislation that would allow the employment of third country nationals who had received nursing qualifications in Cyprus universities and colleges. This had been prevented because of a provision in the existing law demanding a master’s degree in nursing for a third country national to be hired. The law had been amended so that this requirement which was not necessary for a Cypriot nurse would be scrapped, and private hospitals would be able to hire non-EU nurses.

The unions would not hear of it and put pressure on the political parties not to approve the amendment of the law. A second amendment was then tabled, but the unions, acting like the overlords of the political parties, vetoed that as well. With the government unwilling to pressure some parties in order to secure a majority – it was afraid to go against the union diktats – it came up with another idea, which was much worse. It decided to amend the law governing the operation of private hospitals, reducing the nurse per bed ratio stipulated by law. In other words, if it was one nurse to six beds, the new requirement could be one to 10.

Inevitably, there was a strong reaction from the unions, all four of which issued a statement on Monday, saying the changing of the nurse to beds ratio “would downgrade the services provided to patients, to the point that it lives will be put at risk”. The hypocrisy of the four unions – Sek, Peo, Pasydy, Pasyno – is truly astonishing. They have done everything in their power to prevent government attempts to increase the number of nurses available for hire by private hospitals and are now protesting because private hospitals will be allowed to operate with fewer nurses.

The unions’ objections to the hiring of third country nurses also put lives at risk, but it seems they did not care because they knew this would lead to higher wages for their members. It is acceptable to the unions for hospital services to be downgraded and patients’ lives put at risk for the sake of higher wages, secured by limiting supply.

The government has an obligation to put an end to this disgustingly irresponsible and selfish behaviour. All it needs to do is persuade Disy, Diko and one more party to approve the bill that would allow private hospitals to hire third country nurses that received their qualifications in Cyprus. Neither the government nor the parties should be afraid to protect the interests of patients, which the unions have proved they do not care about.