COVID19: Cyprus to draft all doctors and nurses as crisis looms

To fight coronavirus, all registered doctors and nurses are to be drafted by the government and come under the direct control of the Health Ministry from Friday evening.

According to a decree issued by the Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou, all doctors who are registered on the medical registry “are placed under the instructions of the health minister and will execute the duties assigned to them.”

The same applies to all registered nurses in the public and private sector.

Doctors and nurses who belong to groups vulnerable to coronavirus will either be used for other duties or will be exempted altogether, the order said.

Health professionals drafted will receive their duties from the Ministry’s web page, www.moh.gov.cy.

Upon receiving instructions, they will be deployed at a designated location within 24 hours to bolster hospital staff under pressure from the COVID-19 outbreak.

The ministry justified its decision saying that it was taken in the interest of protecting the public health care system from a potential collapse “taking into account the human resources and logistical requirements necessary to cope with the rapid spread of the virus”.