Speaking at a press conference on the GESY, which turns three years old in June, Stefanou said the attack on the system is mainly expressed through the instrumentalisation of existing problems, weaknesses and gaps and scaremongering about its financial viability, in order to intensify the questioning of its character and structure.
In response to a journalist's question about who are those who want to hurt the GESY, Stefanou replied that "some circles are within the government itself", to note that he did not say this himself, but people who were within the government and worked on the GESY and who themselves said that they were "facing war and subversion from within".
"And they were praising AKEL," he added, "because it stood consistent and steady in the effort to introduce the GESY, with the character that we were asking for and that the government finally adopted."
According to Mr. Stefanou, there are also circles outside the government, since, he said, "the interests in the field are very big."
As he said, "there are interests that are not comfortable with the existence of the YESY and have every reason and interest in undermining it, either to alter its philosophy and character and through this character to do their job and serve their selfish interests, or to subvert the system by discrediting it and demonizing it, in order to do what they would like to do."
He added that his party expresses the belief that "the best defense of the system is to fix the problems within the character and architecture of the YESY and give it a new perspective," adding that "in this way you also confront those circles that in various ways are trying to hurt the system."
"The approach is also based on our conviction that the GHS, with the philosophy and architecture that has been built, is a conquest that has already been embraced by society, it is a conquest that must be supported and developed further, and this calls for a comprehensive evaluation of the system, in order to identify and correct any weaknesses and shortcomings that it has, which admittedly exist. In this way, GESY will gain new momentum and perspective and this is what AKEL wants and seeks," Stefanou said.
Moreover, he stressed that "the correction of problems and deficiencies will protect the system from those who have never seen it in a good light and are trying in various ways, under various pretexts, to alter it, to mutate it and, if possible, to cancel it", adding that "the attack and questioning of the GESY has never stopped" and that "the circles, which do not want this type of GESY, take every opportunity to attack it".
The AKEL Secretary General also said that the Ministry of Health has a decisive role to play in terms of strategic planning, policy-making for public health and ensuring its quality in GESY conditions, to add that "the Anastasiades-DISY government has huge responsibilities, because the public hospitals have reached the present bad situation, and it has a great responsibility for the undermining, erosion and continuous devaluation of public hospitals".
He stressed that "it is time to stop talking big", calling on the Ministry of Health and the OCYPY to proceed with substantial support projects for public hospitals.
He noted that "the government is also responsible for the inefficiency of the OCYPY, since it appoints it," adding that "it is imperative that the change in the composition of the Board of Directors of the OCYPY be legislated.
He went on to say that "public hospitals have a social role and with the implementation of the GHS they have to play the additional role of a mechanism for the promotion and protection of public health, the only specialized body of services that, due to costs, are not provided by the private sector".
"For these roles and responsibility, the state, through the state budget and not only, has the obligation to support them," he said."
Stefanou stressed the need to extend the period of financial support for public hospitals, noting that "state-provided health services must be evaluated and shaped to respond to the gaps left by the private sector.
He also noted that "a weak public sector creates the conditions and environment for the element of commercialisation to increasingly infiltrate the health sector and ultimately for profit to take precedence over the need to provide quality and universal health care."
With regard to the Health Insurance Organisation (HIO), Mr. Stefanou said that AKEL demands, among other things, the improvement of supervision and the exercise of effective controls to address abuses, the intensification of information to patients about the system and its proper use, the improvement of access for all patients geographically to Personal Doctors, as well as to specialties, the improvement of access to innovative and cheap medicines, the development of an on-call system by Personal Physicians and the creation of structures of local dispensaries with topographical separation, which can be on call, as well as the inclusion in the GESY of Emergency Departments from private hospitals, if they meet the required specifications, staffing, equipment.
Asked whether the period of financial support for public hospitals should be extended, AKEL Health Sector Head, Athos Georgiou, expressed the assessment that financial support for public hospitals should be extended at least for another two years, after the end of the pandemic.
He added that "what has been shown by the pandemic in all countries is that the public sector should and must be strengthened because it has a social role to play."
He said that the NHS should immediately present what its strategic planning and operational plan is, adding that it should cost this planning and based on this planning, ask what financial support it needs to survive.
In relation to the inadequacy in public hospitals, Mr. Georgiou questioned whether there is another country in which haemophiliacs went on strike and did not go on dialysis, putting their lives at risk because of the deplorable conditions they are subjected to at Famagusta Hospital.
Commenting on the incident, Stefanou spoke of "criminal negligence", noting that "we should not play with the lives of citizens."
Source: CNA
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