Cyprus faces a dearth of nurses at state hospitals, the health minister said on Thursday, proposing that one quick fix could be to hire people from non-EU countries.

Speaking in parliament, Neofytos Charalambides revealed that state hospitals in total have a shortage of about 600 nursing staff.

“Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system,” the minister told MPs.

“The shortages are not just a number – it directly impacts patients’ safety as well as the work conditions of the healthcare workers themselves.”

For this reason, the ministry is exploring a slew of measures addressing both the short term and the long term.

One idea would be to have a “strictly controlled employment” of nurses from non-EU countries.

This would be a supplementary measure, Charalambides stressed – it’s not meant to replace Cypriot or European nurses.

“The proposal concerns having up to 10 per cent of personnel at each healthcare facility, under strict conditions.”

Nurses from non-EU countries would be required to have a solid grasp of Greek, and would be issued work permits for only two years. In addition, they would be not be assigned as shift supervisor.

The minister asserted that, whatever steps are taken, there is no intention of adversely affecting the entitlements of nurses or creating unemployed among those with a nursing degree.

He would be seeking “dialogue” with the trade unions on the issue.

The government has meantime commissioned a study for capacity planning in the healthcare sector.

Also, the health ministry has reached out to the military, asking whether they’d agree to granting deferments to prospective conscripts enrolled in nursing programmes.

“We aim to continuously upgrade the healthcare system to the benefit of the patients, with rational management of resources, effective oversight by the ministry, and zero tolerance to abuse or rule-breaking,” the minister noted.