Northern Cyprus assistant doctors get first on-call service pay after 8-year fight

Özlem Gürkut, president of the Turkish Cypriot Physicians' Union (Tıp-İş), announced on social media that assistant doctors in Northern Cyprus (TRNC) have been paid for on-call duty in their own services for the first time. She recalled that assistants were previously paid only for emergency service duty, and said these shifts are now paid at a 1:1 ratio even when they fall on public holidays and weekends.

Gürkut said the Health Services Department Law, published in the Official Gazette on 8 July 2026 and now in force, bars assistant doctors from being employed under other titles outside their training service and specialty. The law also guarantees a bursary of no less than three times the gross minimum wage for doctors going to Türkiye for the second half of their specialist training.

Gürkut said the campaign began in 2018, when the Turkish Cypriot Medical Association (KTTB) raised assistant doctors' issues with government officials. She noted that the part of the law concerning the Medical Specialization Board (TUK) could not be enacted due to political pressure. She thanked former Health Ministry undersecretary Dr. Deren Oygar, KTTB president Dr. Ceyhun Dalkan and their team, among others.