Filenews 24 January 2023 - byMarilena Panayi
A plan that determines the number of beneficiaries that the GHS personal doctors will be able to have registered in their list depending on their age, has been elaborated for several months by the Health Insurance Organization, however, as it was found during the development of the Organization's effort, in order to be able to implement any planning, the involvement of both the Pancyprian Medical Association and the Ministry of Health is required.
Within the framework of the GHS, as we are informed, around 70 doctors over the age of 75 are currently offering services. Of these, 30 are personal doctors (i.e. 4.4% of adults and children) and 40 are specialist doctors of various specialties (i.e. 2% of specialist doctors).
Over the age of 80 are 15 GHS doctors (7 personal doctors and 8 specialists) and the over 85s are only two doctors, one of whom is a personal doctor and the other a specialist doctor.
According to the initial plan, doctors up to 75 years old will be able to offer services under the GHS and this will apply to both personal and specialist doctors. For personal doctors, restrictions are also set on the number of their beneficiaries. Graduations start at 67 with the number of beneficiaries limited to 2,000 and end up at 250 beneficiaries for 74-year-old doctors.
This plan had also been discussed by the HIO Board of Directors in April 2022, however, during the discussion, it was found that the Organization may not be able to set restrictions on its own, since the legislation provides that the GHS includes doctors who are licensed to practice by the PIS.
Therefore, it was decided that both the assistance of the PIS and the assistance of the Ministry of Health will be requested, since if, for example, the Pancyprian Medical Association decides to implement its own internal procedures that may concern the evaluation of doctors from a certain age onwards, the HIO will be obliged to adopt them.
Ready to discuss any proposal prepared, the scientific society of personal and family doctors is presented. "This issue has concerned us both during our meetings with the HIO and at piS level," the company's president, Andreas Polynikis, told "F". "But the legal way to implement these restrictions that are being discussed has to be found. That is, this case is a matter for the PIS and some thoughts are being made." From the HIO, he said, "we know that they are studying some scenarios for a reduction in the number of beneficiaries that personal doctors who reach an age can have registered in their list, while perhaps some kind of evaluation should be made, such as the one done for example in the case of driving licenses, by the Medical Association."
"There are solutions", said Mr. Polyneikis and added that "doctors must also keep in mind that for everything there is an end. We have to say that yes, younger colleagues are right to complain but also older doctors, they cite decades of experience and experience cannot be ignored."
HIO: It's not a simple matter
The specific issue, the deputy general director of the HIO, Athos Tsinontidis, said in his statements to "F", "is not simple and certainly the Organization cannot proceed with the implementation of any planning unless the Pancyprian Medical Association is involved in the whole effort". Several months ago, he added, "the HIO had a preliminary planning ready which was also discussed by the Board of Directors, but we found that there needs to be consultation with both the PIS and the Ministry of Health in order to be able to proceed with any relevant arrangement." "It's an issue that we're concerned about, we need to emphasize that, we've worked out and we're working on some scenarios but we can't talk about anything specific at the moment."
Question by Irene Charalambidou
A relevant question was submitted to the Minister of Health by MP Irene Charalambidou. "After a thorough investigation into doctors registered with the GHS, I have found that the list includes people over the age of 85. In fact, some of them had retired and retired from medicine for more than ten years and returned as registered doctors in the GHS. (...) Because the health services offered at the GHS are governed by regulations on patient safety, please let me know if there is a precedent in other European countries for doctors over the age of 85 to offer services within the framework of national health plans", said Ms. Charalambidou.
