THE OWNERSHIP OF THE GESY SOFTWARE UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - Filenews 7/3 by Marilena Panayi
The Minister of Health and the Deputy Minister of Innovation received an explicit mandate from the President of the Republic to intervene in the issues related to the software of the General Health System and to assist in the effort of the Health Insurance Organization to free itself from the various legal issues that have arisen from its contract with the company that manages the GHS IT system.
The GHS software, the problems in its operation and especially the efforts made by the HIO to reach an agreement with the current administrator, were analyzed and discussed during yesterday's meeting of the President of the Republic with the leadership of the Organization.
The representatives of the HIO informed the President about the various legal issues that have arisen and about the negotiations that are underway with the contractor company and aim at the non-renewal of the relevant contract next May when it expires and the assumption of the management of the software by the Organization itself.
According to information from "F", the biggest disagreement between the Organization and the contractor concerns, at the moment, the "ownership" of the software, since the HIO claims that the IT system belongs to it, which is disputed by the administrator.
It is recalled that the goal of the HIO is to take over the management of the GHS software next May, when its contract with the contractor company expires. Given this, time is pressing and in case the scene does not become clearer, by the beginning of April at the latest, the problem will become even bigger.
During the meeting of the President with the leadership of the HIO, issues related to the contributions of medicines were also raised for discussion on the occasion of the significant increases that occurred after the implementation of the new price list by the Ministry of Health. It is recalled that the protests concerned a drug whose contribution, due to the calculation system applied by the HIO, skyrocketed to €22. The actions of the HIO and the possible ways to deal with this problem were discussed.
The way in which state aircraft will assist in the transport of patients abroad as well as the efforts made by the HIO to exercise control within the System were also discussed.
Finally, and according to the same information, the President also raised for discussion issues of restrictions that are applied within the GHS but, as it is found in some cases, lead to distortions, unnecessary mobility in the System and possibly unnecessary expenses for the GHS Fund.
The President of the Republic in his statements stated that Health and Education are key priorities of governance, stressing that the GHS is an important social reform that, like any reform of such scope, needs continuous evaluation and addressing the challenges that arise.
"The Government's goal, through such initiatives and discussions, is to strengthen and improve the health services provided to the Cypriot people," he said.
"For us it is an investment, it is not an expense. It does not only have an economic dimension, but it concerns the investment in the field of Health and Education", he noted.
