Private hospitals warned on Friday they will “take action” unless the government acts immediately to address a critical shortage of nurses.

Speaking on CyBC radio, private hospitals association (Pasin) chairman, Marios Karaiskakis, he cautioned that hospitals were being pushed to the brink.

“We’ve run out of words, we needed nurses yesterday and they’re telling us about a new study.”

Karaiskakis said that private hospitals have been pressing for action since before Christmas, after meetings with the health ministry and parliament produced promises and timetables that were never delivered.

“We’re shouting, we’re begging, we submit memoranda, we go to the ministry, we go to parliament, nothing happens,” he dismayed.

“We are operating at the limit when it comes to nursing staff.”

The warning follows a decision this week by the employers’ and industrialists’ federation (Oev) to authorise measures, including postponing hospital operations, over understaffing.

Oev said the situation was deteriorating at the expense of patients, public health and the viability of private hospitals.

At the heart of the dispute is legislation which would allow private hospitals to recruit foreign nurses more easily.

Karaiskakis said a bill discussed in parliament was vetoed after union objections, only for the health ministry to commission another staffing study.

 “Instead of solutions, we get delays”, he lamented.

He also described the current rules as discriminatory, arguing that foreign nurses who graduate from Cypriot nursing schools are barred from working unless they hold a master’s degree, a requirement not imposed on Cypriot graduates.

“They graduate here, they speak Greek, they have our degrees, and we close the door on them,” he said.

“They’ll drag us to the European courts.”

The health ministry has come under increasing pressure after warning some private hospitals they risk licence suspensions over missing nursing posts.

Oev has accused the ministry of shifting responsibility onto hospitals while failing to address a nationwide lack of nurses, a problem compounded by recent recruitment initiatives that intend to attract nurses from the private sector into public hospitals.

Karaiskakis said private hospitals were being squeezed from all sides, with closures becoming a real possibility if no immediate relief is offered.

“If we don’t see solutions now, the next time we go public will be to announce action we are taking.”

Previously, Oev has repeatedly warned that private clinics may be forced to close due to staff shortages.

For this reason, it said earlier this year that the “only way out” is for nurses to be hired from third countries and for third country nationals who study nursing in Cyprus to be “utilised” in the domestic market.

Nurses themselves, however, have consistently objected to reported plans to reduce the minimum Greek language requirement for third country nationals who wish to practise nursing in Cyprus.

“We cannot allow people’s safety and the quality of healthcare provided to be sacrificed on the altar of serving financial interests by disregarding the human factor and placing the patient second,” trade union Pasydy had said