The doctors’ union (Pasyky) on Thursday asked the board of the state health services organisation (Okypy) to explain the legal basis of its scientific director post, after an Okypy spokesperson described the role as “purely advisory” and without any financial benefit.

Pasyky said that description does not match the law or material published by Okypy itself.

The law places the scientific director in the management team of a public hospital, which is legally responsible for running it.

The union argues that a post with those responsibilities cannot be described as advisory only.

“If Okypy considers that the position it advertised is something different, it must officially explain what its legal basis is,” the union said, and state how the post relates to the management team set out in law.

On pay, the union cited Okypy’s own approved budget for this year, which states that a clinic director who also works as scientific director shall receive the allowances of the first job and 50 per cent of the allowance for the second.

The union said this contradicts the claim that the post carries no financial benefit.

The call for expressions of interest states that the duties are undertaken in addition to a doctor’s existing work.

Pasyky said running a clinic at the same time could not later become an “implicit incompatibility” simply because the clinic is considered “successful”.

The union’s position is that a doctor who leads a well-performing clinic should not be treated as unsuitable for the role, when the advertisement allowed for exactly that.

It called on the board to publish the legal basis of the post, the criteria it applied and its reasons for advertising the post again.