Three laws "that are directly related to the proper provision of services to Cypriot patients, are impossible to implement properly, because we do not have nurses". This position of the Minister of Health, Neophytos Charalambides, before the parliamentary committee on Health, was clear, as was his call to the Parliament: "Just as there is a shortage of nurses in the rest of Europe, there is also in Cyprus", he said in response to questions from MPs, while, commenting on the concerns of the trade unions, he said that "it is not my intention either, nor of the government to disturb the benefits and rights of any worker, nor to create unemployed nursing graduates."
The laws on rehabilitation, palliative care and community nursing, "were passed some time ago but we cannot implement them", said the Minister of Health, pointing out to the members of the parliamentary committee on Health, that bills and amendments to laws have been pending for a long time that aim "to address the shortage of nurses that afflicts the entire health sector in Cyprus and patients in particular".
"Nurses are a key pillar of the health system and the adequacy of human resources is a necessary condition for the implementation of these legislations, but mainly for the proper provision of services to Cypriot patients."
For this reason, he said addressing the MPs, "any relevant legislative initiative, bill or amendment of existing laws must be considered as a priority when issues of operation of the entire health system of the country are raised".
The Minister of Health had a meeting yesterday with the Committee which held its first meeting with its new composition and his specific positions were of course not unrelated to the postponement of the voting of the amendments that had been submitted before the parliamentary elections and aimed to facilitate the employment of nurses from foreign countries (under strict conditions and criteria), from the private hospitals of the place.
"On the issue of rehabilitation," he stressed, "we have many issues that we need to study. Despite the fact that since February there has been the possibility of licensing new centers, no request for licensing has been submitted to the Ministry so far" (eg. representatives of the rehabilitation centers had stated several times in the previous months that due to the lack of nurses it is not possible to meet the requirements of the law for their staffing with nursing staff).
It is recalled that last week and after the publication of the bill that provides for a change in the ratio of nurses / beds in private hospitals in order to save staff while increasing the number of assistant wards, the trade unions (which have rejected all the suggestions of the Ministry of Health so far), reacted and in a joint statement spoke of dangerous practices.
Pending legislative issues, starting with university clinics
Referring to the legislative work, the minister said that important legislation is pending before the Committee, in addition to the bills concerning nurses, including the bill for university clinics and the bill for biomedical laboratories.
He added that a bill for the establishment and operation of medical councils will be submitted in the near future, while the establishment of the National Food Safety Authority is also planned.
At the same time, the Ministry is working on an amendment to the "Private Hospitals Law", in order to incorporate public hospitals into it, with the aim of creating a single institutional framework for all hospitals in Cyprus.
GHS: Stocks in the Fund are higher than appropriate but medicines are expensive
The GHS Fund has more than enough reserves, but the System is facing two major financial challenges, according to the general director of the Health Insurance Organization, Ifigenia Kammitsi.
The Director General of the HIO, speaking to the Parliamentary Committee on Health, stressed that "the financial sustainability of the GHS is a constant strategic pursuit of the Organization and added that "the annual actuarial study shows that the System remains viable until 2033 without any differentiation in contributions, while its reserve is at levels significantly higher than the internationally recommended levels".
At the same time, however, she noted that the main challenges at the moment concern the aging of the population, the consequent increase in chronic patients, due to the aging of the population, but also the inclusion of new and expensive treatments in the System, while noting the constant risk for the good use of the GHS by both providers and beneficiaries. Despite these challenges, she underlined, "today the System is financially viable".
Referring to specialized medicines, Ms. Kammitsi did not fail to underline the fact that the HIO has received 4,000 nominal requests to date, saying that "in other European systems the nominal requests are about a quarter of our number".
The goal of the HIO, she said, "is to limit the number of nominal requests. These treatments should be included in the GHS lists and only drugs that are really new, innovative and meet the relevant criteria should remain in the process of nominal requests."
