Filenews 24 November 2023 - by Marilena Panayi
Many doctors in Cyprus are elderly and as the study of the Ministry of Health shows, the flow of new doctors in the relevant professional registry shows a gradual downward trend.
Pharmacists and dentists seem to be doing well, always in relation to European averages, while the number of nurses is significantly smaller than in the rest of the European Union.
The findings of the study "Capacity Planning in the health sector in Cyprus" were presented yesterday during a press conference held at the Ministry of Health with Minister Popi Kanari explaining that "Capacity Planning is a process that aims to evaluate and timely plan the capabilities of the health system. in order to respond effectively and efficiently to the current and future health needs of the population, ensuring the adequacy of the required resources".
According to the findings of the needs planning, Cyprus has a large number of doctors, in proportion to the population, exceeding the EU average, but these doctors belong to the older age groups.
The vast majority are aged 41 or over, with the number of doctors heading for retirement increasing. A very small number of doctors belong to the age group of 31-40 years and at the same time, the flow of new doctors in the Cyprus Medical Registry shows a gradual downward trend. At the same time, the number of Cypriots attending medical schools operating on the island or abroad is not sufficient to fill the gaps that, as it seems, will arise after the retirement of a very large number of doctors in the next few years.
This, as shown by the study of the Ministry of Health, shows that very soon in Cyprus we will have a problem related to a shortage of doctors, although it has been observed that young doctors are registered in the Cyprus Medical Registry but do not find and do not practice medicine on the island. That is, young Cypriot doctors are registered in the national register but do not return to Cyprus to work after completing their studies. Therefore – and as was also mentioned at the conference – it is imperative to incentivise these doctors to return and offer their services to patients.
In the context of the study, human resources were recorded on a nationwide basis "in order to evaluate the data".
The registration and evaluation was completed for 17,000 health professionals, 63% of whom were doctors and nurses, and "demonstrated a risk of shortage of medical staff by the end of the next five years".
There also seems to be a problem with the ratio of doctors to nurses, with the number of nurses being small compared to the number of practicing doctors in Cyprus.
As for the rest of the health professionals, 17,000 include dentists, pharmacists, speech therapists, occupational therapists, dieticians, psychologists, etc.
As it turned out, the number of dentists in Cyprus is much higher than the average number of dentists in EU countries and the number of pharmacists is marginally higher than the EU average. The number of doctors is also higher than the European average, with the difference that the number of registered doctors in Cyprus is much higher than the number of professionals practicing medicine on the island.
The registration of health professionals, through the various professional registers, will be continuous, as will the monitoring of the data collected and recorded in an electronic computer system, which is also promoted.
The whole effort to record data includes the assessment of needs in the health sector in relation to the needs that exist in terms of the services offered. As stressed by the Ministry of Health, "a systematic assessment of the needs of the population in health issues and provision of health services is needed" and in this context, "a new and updated report assessing the health needs of the population is foreseen, which highlights the main public health issues faced by the population of Cyprus, such as the ageing of the population accompanied by a poor level of health of the elderly and limited access to health appropriately designed institutions, smoking, obesity, diabetes, antimicrobial resistance, the large number of caesarean deliveries and the number of premature births and stillbirths, as well as comparatively reduced resources in prevention issues."
In the meantime, for the purpose of proper monitoring of the health sector in the context of the action concerning the development of a regulatory role, the Ministry of Health is promoting two legislative regulations. Specifically, a "bill is being promoted for the establishment, introduction and supervision of quality standards in the health sector and the creation of a legal framework for the collection of important data for the other pillars of the project, as well as the creation of a special monitoring unit at the Ministry of Health".
Capacity Planning also includes the control of health service infrastructure, i.e. facilities and available equipment. "The purpose of this action is to create a register of infrastructure, including high-cost equipment and its evaluation, in order to meet the health needs of citizens." It also includes the development of "technical specifications of an electronic information system (EIS) for the development of an electronic register for the collection, storage, analysis and creation of aggregated report reports".
The creation of supervisory units is promoted
As the Minister of Health, Popi Kanari, stated in her initial statement, "the systematic recording of human resources to health professionals, the training of these professionals and the way they are organized, the recording of infrastructure in equipment and facilities, allows the development of targeted actions for a holistic treatment of problems in the field of health".
Following the recent radical reforms in the health sector, "the Ministry of Health, building on the knowledge gained in the framework of this EU-funded project "Capacity Planning", is promoting key adjustments in order to substantially strengthen its capabilities in regulation, supervision, planning and decision-making, in order to ensure the uninterrupted provision of quality services to patients without deviations and Limits.
To this end, the Ministry of Health is proceeding with the staffing of functional units in matters of supervision and planning of needs and capabilities, along with the submission of a proposal for further technical support through Technical Assistance (TSI) on these issues, including the reassessment and definition of the model of health service provision".
Some of the actions that will begin to be implemented in the next period have already been prepared, while the various individual actions included in the initial planning of the Capacity Planning are in progress.
INTERVENTION
We will need doctors and nurses
The fact that Cyprus may face a problem with a shortage of doctors in the coming years is a very important finding, as to date in all annual EU Health reports our island presents a very large number of doctors in proportion to population. The analysis of the data that has been done has revealed the real picture and this issue must, rather, be dealt with very seriously in the coming months by the Ministry of Health. At the same time, and although this data study does not indicate a risk of shortage of nursing staff, the situation around the world requires vigilance by the competent Cypriot authorities so that we do not find ourselves in a very difficult position in a few years, as we found ourselves in the past.
M.P.
