On the occasion of International Nurses’ Day, AKEL salutes nurses all over the world and expresses its appreciation for their continuous and professional devotion to providing services and health care to people and Society. Especially in this year’s prevailing conditions, AKEL wishes to thank all healthcare professionals, especially nurses, who are in the front line for all of us to be healthy. It is with their superhuman efforts that the public health system has held on in the pandemic.
Nurses are an important part of human resources in health. They serve with dedication the most precious asset of people’s health, caring for the well-being of the individual, the family and society even under difficult conditions, such as the pandemic. They are by the patient’s side constantly, providing psychological support and attention.
The pandemic has revealed the weakness of many health systems, which will deteriorate if governments do not take urgent action to confront the current global shortage of six million nurses.
In Cyprus, the inadequate staffing and reduced budgets in Health make the work for all healthcare workers more difficult in public hospitals. We call on the government to recognize the critical role nurses play in society and to pledge that they will ensure their health and safety, improving their wages and working conditions. The state must realise the importance of the role nurses play in the health system and make sure to invest in nursing staff. The government is called upon to invest in accelerating the training of nurses and creating new jobs for nurses.
AKEL has always stood on the side of nurses and their demands. Our gratitude and appreciation for their work is expressed primarily through the struggle for a strong public health system, against those who undermined it with the policies of underfunding and defamation, against those who responded with contempt to the struggles waged by nurses.
On the occasion of the International Nurses’ Day, AKEL wishes all the nurses and nurses of Cyprus good health, strength and fulfillment of their aspirations.
