Filenews 7 March 2023 - by Marilena Panayi
A week after the official assumption of the new government's duties, the GHS found itself in the throes of public dialogue with the Minister of Health, Popi Kanari, making visits, in the morning to the State Health Services Organization and in the afternoon to the Health Insurance Organization and the Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos, rushing to refute information that brought him to characterize the System as a "black hole".
Upgrading the quality of the services provided, the sustainability of the GHS, attracting scientific staff and supporting public hospitals, so that they actually become the backbone of the System, the priorities of Poppy Kanari, who yesterday, was informed by the leadership of the HIO about the results of the latest actuarial study conducted by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and demonstrate that the General Health System, it is sustainable, until beyond 2030.
Mrs. Kanari reportedly stressed the need for the creation of university clinics in Cyprus with the aim, among other things, of utilizing the scientific staff available in the country, since as mentioned during the meeting with the HIO, this will help in the long term to upgrade the services offered through the GHS. Regarding the quality of the System's services in general, the HIO and the Minister of Health probably agreed that various distortions currently observed in the GHS should be corrected.
In her statements after the meeting with the HIO, the Minister of Health said: "We had a very remarkable exchange of views, important on key issues such as the viability of the GHS, the evaluation of providers, patient complaints and medical universities as well as many other issues that definitely need investigation, and will on our part, to help the health system become more qualitative." She added that her goal "is to promote the improvement and upgrading of the health system, a system embraced by our people" and noted that "the GHS was a 'necessary' development in the health sector. We have to embrace the system, and the philosophy and the architecture, but we have to improve it significantly because there are distortions, there are problems, and the will of the ministry is short, to set timetables."
Of course, at a time when the Minister of Health was visiting the two semi-public health organizations, the Minister of Finance was quick to refute information that came to light last Saturday and brought him to consider the GHS as a "black hole" which, according to the relevant report, endangers public finances. This information, from early in the morning yesterday, sounded the alarm, after receiving comment from the director of the HIO Andreas Papakonstantinou, who called on Makis Keravnos "either to refute or to substantiate his positions".
As stated in the publication, the Minister of Finance, on the basis of information: The GHS has set its priorities since it "considers that the excessive expenditure of the GHS is developing into one of the biggest risks for the course of the fiscal". According to the same information, the minister's concerns focus on: "First, the launch of the GHS expenditure side, which is disproportionate to the increase in revenues. Second, the concealment of income from health providers, the non-submission of a tax return or its submission with lower incomes than those received from the HIO. Thirdly, possible direct effects on public finances and debt'.
This information had caused uproar, of course, during the weekend and yesterday morning the director of the HIO in his intervention on the "Morning Itinerary" of CyBC called on the Minister of Finance "either to retract what he said, or to give evidence to substantiate his position that the GHS is a black hole. It is a very heavy characterization for the System and I call on the Minister of Finance to provide evidence of the black hole," said Andreas Papakonstantinou.
The statements of the HIO director were followed by an announcement by the Ministry of Finance, which, among other things, indirectly but clearly also sent a personal message to Mr. Papakonstantinou: "The Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos, has never made any statement or characterization about the General Health System since the day he took office. The Minister of Finance considers that the GHS is a social conquest and an institution that serves the whole people and the aim is to ensure the provision of high quality services for the benefit of the citizens," the statement said and continued: "However, despite the fact that the Minister has not taken a position on the GHS, he wishes to note that public officials should be particularly careful when commenting or referring to statements or alleged by the press as statements, of any minister."
The Minister of Finance supported DIKO in a statement, stating that: "In order to restore the truth, we emphasize that the Minister of Finance, Makis Keravnos, has not made any statements about the GHS."
This particular discussion was attempted to be closed late yesterday afternoon by the president of the HIO, Stavros Michael, who after the meeting with the Minister of Health, Popi Kanari, said that "the matter is considered closed because it is probably a misunderstanding, since, in a discussion that had taken place", as he said, "some things had been said and that the Minister of Finance said them, while he hadn't said it."
The SHSO needs support from the government and the HIO
Yesterday morning, the Minister of Health, Popi Kanari, had a meeting with the leadership of the State Health Services Organization. In her statements after the meeting, she said that "during the meeting, the difficulties faced by the hospitals have been weighed, the support they need from the government, but also from the HIO at the same time, so that they can proceed with improvement actions".
"We have very capable medical and paramedical staff," he said, "and they need to be used properly, with proper procedures and proper supervision." Asked if she would focus more on some areas, Ms. Kanari said she would focus on "the Emergency Departments (EDPs). We see tragic events in the newspapers and I do not want us to have that picture. This is not appropriate for Cyprus, which should give a better picture. We have very good doctors, good hospitals and we should not give this negative image. I think, we deserve better as a state."
On his part, the General Executive Director of the SHSO, Kypros Stavrides, stated that "the strategic objectives of the Organization, its pillars of success, as well as the actions and upgrades that have already been made or have already been launched in relation to equipment and building infrastructure have been explained to the Minister. I believe that the SHSO is moving towards achieving its goals".
INTERVENTION
DIKO was placed
What happened yesterday in relation to the publication that brought the Minister of Finance to consider the GHS a "black hole" that endangers public finances, personally have not convinced me. It is a fact that this publication did not refer to statements made by the Minister but to information from our colleague. As a journalist, I know very well that journalists do not wake up every morning and decide that we will create information ourselves. Of course, in some cases we press it and we cannot even support ourselves. I did not understand the indirect threats to the director of the HIO on the part of the Ministry of Finance and DIKO (!). Anyway. DIKO was placed.
