The Committee discussed the issue, with members stressing the importance of such a strategy for two such serious diseases, they said, heart disease and strokes, which, according to the Committee's deputy chairperson, DISY MP Savia Orphanidou, are the two most common causes of death in Cyprus as well.
In her statements after the session, Orphanidou said that based on the data available worldwide, cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
"Particularly in our country, based on the data available from the health profile for Cyprus, the two most common causes of death in our country are ischemic heart disease and strokes, with 28% due to cardiovascular or underlying diseases," she added.
He said it is an issue "that burns humanity in general" and that in the context of creating this national strategy, factors such as information, staff training, culture change, prevention should be included, "mainly to see how we can prevent these episodes, because it is an invisible enemy, an invisible pandemic that should be tackled at its root."
He said that all relevant agencies are willing to start preparing this strategy in consultation with all stakeholders so that within a one-year horizon there will be a comprehensive national strategy which will include strategies already being run by the Ministry of Health regarding smoking, alcohol, obesity, the need for exercise, etc.
He also said that they also welcomed "with much satisfaction" the positions taken by the OAI and the OCYP towards strengthening this effort "and we look forward to seeing results in the best interests of the patient and the state in general".
AKEL MP Marina Nicolaou said in her own statements that the debate was set in the right direction, and that they would be following very closely the implementation of such an important national strategy which is essential for the country. She said that public hospitals have an essential and very important role to play in this process.
She referred to the importance of immediate access to care for people suffering from a heart attack or stroke, since, as she said, it was heard from guests at the meeting, regarding the current situation, that when a doctor has a very heavy workload to deal with, delays occur. "Time in matters of strokes and heart attacks is very important," he said."
He also said that doctors should be provided with all the necessary tools, since, he added, it is not acceptable for a patient suffering from heart failure to have to take certain drugs for six months and the GHS to give them only one.
He appealed for a change of culture to give immediate care to anyone who needs it, but based on scientific criteria.
Chrysanthos Savvidis, a DIKO MP, referred to "two invisible diseases" - heart disease and stroke - which he said need to be managed through a national strategy.
He said that in Cyprus about 1.000 cases a year with an increasing trend and, he added, if 25% of these cases are left with residuals of stroke, as they have been reported to the Commission, it means that this affects about 250 people a year.
He said that DIKO is in favour of a national strategy, but it should include five key pillars, such as maintaining complete statistical data, enriching pharmaceutical formulations because, he said, there are gaps, increasing rehabilitation centres, maximising the information campaign on these diseases and in schools, and direct patient accessibility to the treatment of these episodes.
DIKO, he said, will contribute to this effort and expressed hope that it will be implemented before the one-year timeframe.
Source: CNA
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