The issues raised by the Auditor General in presenting his report related to the financial management of public hospitals, financial statements not being submitted on time, and questioned financial planning for the 2022-2024 biennium. He noted in particular that the Agency's revenues have decreased, as with the start of the YESU the number of patients visiting public hospitals has decreased, while he estimated that the budgeted expenditures are conservative.
In addition, he raised the issue ofmany recruitments, since, for example, secretarial and administrative staff increased from 184 in 2018 to 519 in 2021, while particular reference was made to thehigh allowances with which doctors are paid, which in some cases, he said, exceed their salaries. The Auditor General further commented that there are insufficient control mechanisms for the allowances and suggested that they be restricted by legislation.
Another issue discussed in the committee was the issue of TAPs, which remain only public, while patient service needs improvement, with MPs saying they receive a plethora of complaints about them.
During the debate, credit was given by both the Auditor General and the MPs to the new Executive Director of the OCR, Cyprus Stavridis, for his effectiveness. The discussion was not concluded, but will continue next week.
After the end of the Committee, the spokesman of the Audit Office, Marios Petrides, added that a proper strategic planning on behalf of the OCYPY should include objectives, activities, performance indicators and performance indicators, i.e. measurable criteria, commenting on the business plan put together by the Agency.
In relation to the budget of the OHCHR, Petrides said that "a 25% increase in revenue from 2021 to 2022 had been projected. We say in our report that we consider it difficult, to unfeasible, to be realised for 2022."
"We maintain our position that a policy of unbridled provision of allowances, both horizontal and vertical, particularly to medical staff, without limits and with no real linkage to their production and to the revenue they receive from the OAS, continues to be applied by the OAS," he added. Petrides.
Regarding the Agency's revenues, therepresentative of the Audit Office said that "OAI's data say that inpatients have decreased from 2018, before autonomy, until 2021 by 20% and outpatients by 45%. It's a point of concern. The OAI will have to increase its productivity, increase the quality of services provided in order to recover."
In response to a question in relation to the administrative and financial autonomy of the OAI by May 31, 2024, Mr. Petrides said that OKYPY should make every effort to balance its budgets within this deadline.
In a statement, President of OKYPY, Marios Panagidis, said that the remarks and observations of the Audit Service are taken seriously by the Agency.
Regarding the financial autonomy of the Agency, Panagides said that the Agency has created the conditions to achieve financial autonomy in the coming years and this is reflected in the Agency's budget for the period 2022-2024, which has been prepared on the basis of a detailed business plan.
In response to a question on whether an extension beyond 31 May 2024 would be needed to complete the autonomy, Panagidis said that, given the pandemic, "it would be reasonable to ask for a period of time, not too long, for this purpose. But the issue would have to be studied very thoroughly to properly document whether we would make such an extension." In addition, there are many infrastructure projects, he said, amounting to €150 million, which cannot be completed by mid-2024, "so we will have to see how it is done with the finances of the state."
"With the GES there was a loss of patients and this was made worse by the departure of many doctors," he said, adding that to win back patients takes time and many actions, which have been orbited."
"We are lagging in outpatient care, and there we need to regain market share. We have a number of actions planned in this area, starting with reaching an agreement with doctors and nurses on an evening hours system," he added.
Regarding the observation in the Auditor General's report about a large increase in the secretarial and administrative staff of the Agency, Panagides replied that the Agency had to set up a central administration, which did not exist and amounts to about 100 people. In addition, clerks were hired to support the doctors, while people who were seconded to the Agency from the public sector were replaced by recruits.
The aim, he concluded, is to transform OKYPY into a modern, flexible and efficient Agency, to make it financially autonomous and to upgrade its hospitals and services while remaining the backbone of the General Health System.
The Chairman of the Committee, DIKO MP Zacharias Koulias, said that the findings of the Auditor General on public hospitals are very important. "Fortunately there was the Ministry of Health with the system of subsidised patients," he said, since it sent 280,000 patients abroad and to private hospitals in the last four years and this kept the public hospitals going.
"Surgical measures must be taken to end the bleeding and leakages that are taking place from both the OAI and the OCYPY," he said.
"Our position is that nursing homes are the property of the state, they should remain the property of the state and should be organised and run properly for the public good."
DISY MP Savia Orphanidou said that state hospitals are the central pillar of the YESY, especially the administrative and financial autonomy, which must be completed by June 2024, without any extension.
"Those who put obstacles to the autonomy of our state-run hospitals are those who circumvent the philosophy of the YESY," he said, adding that improvements have been made.
"We should not forget that the state hospitals faced the pandemic in a positive way, and we must give them credit for that," he added, to conclude that "the goal of our hospitals should always be to provide the best service for all citizens of Cyprus in the evening, at noon and in the morning, and we will contribute in this direction in any way we can."
Source: CNA
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