The Plenum of the Parliament voted this afternoon on the budget of the Health Insurance Organisation (OAI) for 2023, which provides for expenditure of €1,448,052,000. 40 deputies present voted in favour of the OAI budget bill.
Also, the plenary voted for one of the five amendments tabled by EPP President Marinos Sizopoulos, on behalf of the movement's parliamentary group, as well as three of the four amendments tabled by DIKO MPs Panicos Leonidou and Chrysanthos Savvidis on behalf of the party's parliamentary group.
The amendment tabled by Mr. Sizopoulos, which was voted through, provides for written information every six months to the Parliamentary Health Committee on the general expenditure of the global budget of the OAI.
Also, the first DIKO amendment that was passed provides for the written information of the Parliamentary Health Committee, every six months, on the general expenditure of the budget for training and other incentives for health care providers.
The second amendment adopted by the DIKO concerned the written information of the Health Committee on the general expenditure relating to the budget for the remuneration of the President, the members of the Board of Directors and the advisory committees of the OAI.
With regard to the third DIKO amendment passed by the House, it concerns the written information of the Health Committee every six months on the general expenses related to the budget for IT system support and other operational procedures of the GHS.
Presenting the amendments during the plenary session, the President of the EPP said that they asked the OAI Board "to give us the list of where and how the 1.190,000 euros that was budgeted in the 2021 budget for communication, publications and publicity" and "unfortunately this list did not come".
He also said that "the list we requested for the fees of private hospitals for 2021" also did not come and added that a budget explosion was observed,[/B] at a time when "the studies determined as the maximum amount of implementation of the global budget in full implementation of the YESY the 920 million 920 million 920 million 920 million 920 million 920 million 920 million. EUR 920 million', whereas today it has reached EUR 1,5 billion, an increase of 60 %.
"This is the taxpayer's money through the contributions he pays" and that is why all five amendments of the EPP were tabled.
Sizopoulos said that with the first amendment we ask to delete from the budget an amount of 1,050,00. euros budgeted for communication, publications and publicity and added that "for a universal system such amounts are mildly unacceptable".
He said that the second amendment concerns the deletion of an amount of 1 million euros for training and incentives for health care providers, adding that "in order to join the Scheme as a provider, someone must qualify and any training must be a matter for them".
He also said that the remaining three involve crossing amounts and informing the Health Committee.
DISY MP Savia Orphanidou, after noting that DISY will support the amendments concerning the updating of the Health Committee, said that the pandemic was the biggest stress test for the YESY that almost all of us voted for and it passed this stress test with a very positive sign" and added that "many believed the YESY but it was the administration of Nicos Anastasiades and DISY that supported this plan and pushed it forward".
Responding to references by AKEL Parliamentary Representative George Loukaidis, who said that the upcoming elections will decide a lot in relation to the character and philosophy of YESY, Ms. Orphanidou said that DISY and its President "were and are advocates of the GESY and we wish to improve and upgrade it without any change in its philosophy and architecture and this is a clear position of DISY."
Mrs. Orphanidou said that "after three and a half years of operation of GESY, we have to identify some weaknesses and concerns and try to propose solutions to improve it" and added that "there have been and still are abuses, challenging waste, poor management, lack of control system by health professionals" and the fact, she said, that "the Cypriot taxpayer should not have to pay twice and three times for GESY".
"We pay the contributions but we also pay some expenses related to medicines and subsidised patients who go abroad that should be covered by the GESY," he said and thanked the OAI for adopting DISY's proposal to "change the remuneration of doctors and include within this remuneration the mixed system on the basis of quality criteria".
AKEL parliamentary representative George Loukaides said that in difficult conditions of a pandemic "too much work has been done" by the Organisation "to have a health system today" and wondered where we would be today without the health system at the moment when public hospitals were left "at the mercy of their fate" and if we did not proceed with the second phase of the YESY, the inpatient system.
He also said that there are challenges and problems that need to be addressed and added that "because they are very much claiming ownership and motherhood of this important conquest and because we have seen the amazing Mr. Christodoulides to accuse Mr. Neophytou in relation to the latter's polemics against the YESY, Mr. Christodoulides may not have seen the tweet made by Mr. Pamporidis that did not put him in a different position from Mr. Neophytou."
Pamporidis wrote, according to Mr. Loukaides, that he was not an enemy (of YESY) but "he was not among those who supported the effort."
He said that "because so much will be decided in the upcoming elections and in relation to the character and philosophy of YESY, the continuation of the government either with Mr. Neophytou or Mr. Christodoulides will jeopardize the philosophy and character of the health system."
Regarding the amendments, Mr. Loukaides said that AKEL will vote in favour of all the amendments through which the Health Committee is requested to be informed and "we will vote against all the rest", while AKEL MP Aristos Damianou said that "everyone recognises both the ethos and the contribution of the previous president of the OAI."
In response to Mr Loukaides, DISY parliamentary representative Nikos Tornaritis referred to "a fairy tale" by Mr. He said that "the Goebbels propaganda says that when a lie is repeated too many times in the end it can be believed", adding that "many people dreamed of it and wrote it down in programs", but "only the government of Nicos Anastasiades and DISY achieved it".
DIKO Parliamentary Spokesman Panicos Leonidou said that DIKO will vote for the budget, while responding to Mr.Loukaidi he said that "without any discussion and implication, it was implied that Mr.Christodoulides or Mr.Neophytou, if elected, will create a problem in YESY."
He wondered whether Mr. Loukaides understands that "with some such statements and decisions we are strengthening the way some organizations operate and at the end of the day it creates a bigger problem for the citizens."
Mr. Leonidou said that "at the moment there is an organization, an administration, which takes decisions as if it is a personal business of the respective administrators" and added that "we all saw in the previous period what happened regarding the Presidents and the appointments of the President of OAI" and said that DIKO will stand by the current President of OAI "to find solutions to the big problems that OAI has".
He also said that DIKO voted for the YESY and asked "why" DIKO would want to "kill it, as Mr. Loukaides implies" and added that "godfathers of various organizations should cease to exist."
Responding to Mr. Loukaides, DIKO MP Christiana Erotokritou said that AKEL's leader "wants to turn the process of passing the OAI budget into a mini-election debate" and questioned whether "the collection of support from members of the Cabinet of Ministers for Mr Pamporidis is a vote of confidence for the presidential candidate" of the Republic and whether "it is in this way that AKEL chooses who and when and whether to support them".
DPA - Co-operation MP Michael Yiakoumi said that "OAI is the backbone of YESY that is why the bar of expectations is high" and added that "we recognise the work of OAI, however, we identify various abuses."
Yakoumi said that society understands the problems and "asks all of us for the solutions" and "that is why we expect to implement ways to address the abuses in the GHS" and referred to on-site audits which "will include conducting audits of medical procedures."
He also said that following the Auditor General's findings on the GAO, "serious concerns arise about the increased prices in the procurement of medicines" and added that "we expect the best possible financial management... so that we can avoid in the future any possible inflated prices in the purchase of medicines".
Finally, he expressed satisfaction with the OAI's commitment to enriching health services, particularly the inclusion of more specialties, adding that the DPA will vote for the OAI budget and the amendments relating to informing the Health Committee on the OAI's general expenditure.
Source: KYPE
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