Filenews 8 July 2023 - by Marilena Panayi
"It is imperative that we find solutions now to deal with perhaps the biggest problem that afflicts patients, which is the long waiting time for a doctor's appointment."
This is stressed by Health Minister Popi Kanari, arguing that in order to solve this problem, it is imperative that both her Ministry, the HIO and the SHSO act without delay, "as well as the citizens who unfortunately did not learn to make proper use of the GHS and its services".
The recruitment of doctors of specific specialties by the SHSO, the expansion of afternoon outpatient clinics in the public sector, the attraction of doctors from Greece by the HIO and the revision of restrictions and "ceilings" currently in force in the GHS are some of the possible solutions, said Popi Kanari, underlining the need to strengthen the institution of the personal doctor.
«Long waiting times are observed in almost all specialties, but in most cases we move within reasonable limits. But there are some other cases where we have a big problem. These cases are endocrinology, allergology, specialties in which the population of doctors is very small. Then we have orthopedics and gastroenterology," the health minister said.
On behalf of the SHSO, "in the specialties for which it has doctors, it must extend the afternoon hours and operate afternoon outpatient clinics. In specialties where it does not have a large number of doctors, make efforts to locate doctors in Cyprus or Greece, employ them and thus strengthen its own services".
In this way, "the SHSO will on the one hand help reduce the waiting lists that are currently observed, mainly in the private sector, and at the same time will increase revenues from the HIO. Doctors of all specialties work in public hospitals and we cannot have waiting lists for appointments in the private sector on the one hand and operate afternoon clinics in the public sector under whatever conditions are currently applied."
On behalf of the HIO, "regarding the two specialties for which we have the biggest problem (endocrinology, allergology), the organization may have to renegotiate with the scientific societies and make efforts to persuade other doctors to join the GHS. It must be said that the HIO has intensified its effort to identify doctors of specific specialties abroad, in Greece to come to Cyprus and fill our gap."
A second step, "should be to study and review some restrictions that currently apply and in some cases work in a way that favours the creation of waiting lists. For example, we have cases of medications or tests for which the personal doctor cannot prescribe or issue a referral. As a result, citizens are obliged to consult specialist doctors when their personal doctor could help them. These changes to restrictions could be targeted. For example, they should concern diagnosed chronic patients and repeated prescriptions for drugs or tests, which for these people are routine."
Also, "the problem with waiting lists seems to intensify to some extent and in some cases the ceilings set by the HIO on the reimbursements of specialist doctors, which translate into "units" that concern the number of visits they receive each day. We must explain that each doctor, each month, is entitled to a specific number of units corresponding to operations within the GHS. If they exceed this number of units, the amount of their compensation is affected. As a result, in some cases, doctors reduce the number of patients they see daily. Therefore, perhaps the HIO could give an incentive to doctors to add one or two appointments to see chronic patients without these visits counting towards the number of units they are entitled to. This to make sure it works the right way could be done by completing chronic patient records. The HIO is already in this process, some new arrangements have been promoted for cancer patients and thalassaemia patients for the time being, we need to speed up the compilation of records for other diseases as well."
At the same time, "can we see in which specialties most referrals are issued by personal doctors, what health problems do they concern? Should we empower personal doctors, with guidelines, etc., to manage these problems and thus reduce the number of referrals?"
