In statements after the Committee meeting, he said that on the initiative of the Chairman of the Commerce Committee, Kyriakos Hatzigiannis, and himself personally, they have registered and discussed as an ex officio issue in the Health Committee the need to regulate the possibility of prescribing from doctors to patients of the General Health System (GHS) through approved medical health monitoring applications, the so-called apps.
"It is with great pleasure that we have seen all the relevant bodies welcoming this initiative and to this end we estimate that by the end of October, we will have prepared the legislative proposal," Diplaros said.
This he said will give patients the opportunity to be able to communicate through an application on their mobile phone with their doctor, to follow up on their health issues and have faster and immediate access to medical procedures and prescriptions.
He described it as "a pioneering action", adding that this application is already being implemented in Germany and will be launched in France. Hatzigiannis explained that the purpose of the regulation is to allow prescriptions to be made through such applications, and that this will help thousands of patients, especially those suffering from chronic diseases as they will have the opportunity, without much effort, to get the advice they need through a permanent communication with their doctor.
For example, he said, a patient with diabetes, who should have frequent, regular and continuous measurements of either his oxygenation or his blood pressure, these applications that make such and other measurements, which are available to the system, will be available to his doctor through the application so that he can monitor first-hand the progress of the disease.
Mr. Hatzigiannis explained that these measurements can be taken either through smart watches or other devices approved by European bodies.
Mr. Diplaros also said he is "saddened" to have heard at the meeting that three years after the implementation of the GESY it has not yet been possible "to have the so-called medical electric file, even though there is the passing of legislation."
He said they heard from the relevant department that it is understaffed. For this reason, he said, it is his and Mr. Hajiyannis' position that they should move forward with this proposed legislation as soon as possible "because unfortunately we can't delay any longer."
He added that they have had a positive response from the Ministry of Health, and a positive view from the Commissioner for Personal Data Protection, who are waiting for the proposed law to be prepared and sent to them to make their submissions before the Health Committee.
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