The President of the Organization of State Health Services (OKYPY) Marios Panagidis left open the possibility[/B] that the Agency may request an extension of one to three years of the state subsidy to public hospitals, ending June 1, 2024, citing the coronavirus pandemic and projects at the Agency, with the Ministry of Health responding that the pandemic is not an excuse.
Continuing the discussion of the report on the management audit of OKYPY by the Audit Service before the parliamentary Audit Committee, Auditor General Odysseas Michaelides reiterated his concerns about the agency's ability to achieve budget balance in 2024, while public physicians noted that the timeline for financial autonomy is difficult.
Speaking before the committee, Panagides said that possibly the agency is considering asking for a one- to three-year extension in government support because of the coronavirus pandemic. He noted, however, that efforts would be made to balance the budget to avoid extending support. She also said there are thoughts of requesting separate support for ongoing infrastructure projects.
However, Director General of the Ministry of Health Christina Giannaki said the pandemic is not an excuse, noting that infrastructure projects are covered through the budget and the recovery and resilience plan and therefore no extension of support can be requested.
Committee Chairman Zacharias Koulias countered Panagidis by saying "if you cannot take over someone else."
For his part, Sotiris Koumas, President of the Guild of Government Doctors (PASYKI) said that the two years left until financial autonomy "are few". "We have to answer to the staff and every citizen whether in two years we will have public hospitals," he said, speaking before the committee.
For his part, the Auditor General stressed that Covid-19 cannot be presented as an alibi. Covid "cannot be considered an answer for everything," he said.
[/P][BR][BR]He recalled that as early as 2019 he warned that the OIG would not be able to balance its budget and become financially self-sufficient by 2024.
[P MICHAELIDES REFERRED TO THE LOSS OF PATIENTS WHO OPT FOR PRIVATE HOSPITALS, SAYING THAT "BELLS SHOULD RING IN OKYPY" BECAUSE OF THE LOSS OF PATIENTS AND NOTED THAT THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GHS IS NOT THE ANSWER.[/P]The Auditor General also noted that he could not understand why OKYPY, which also operates medical centres in the countryside, is reimbursed by OAI at a lower unit price compared to private hospitals.
Moreover, Konstantinos Zachariadis on behalf of PASYDY said that the pandemic led to a significant reduction in the volume of work of public hospitals "from the consequences of which the organisation will need a long time and painful efforts to recover".
He referred to the successive changes at the level of the Board of Directors, as well as the dismissal of the directors of two directorates.
Marios Kouloumas on behalf of the OSAK said that there is a very long delay and inability to implement the autonomy of public hospitals, which are the backbone of the YESY.
We have machines but no doctors to operate
With regard to the number of doctors, Kouloumas said that they have decreased from 807 in 2018 to 751 now, noting that there is an upgrade of equipment but "the issue is whether we have doctors to work with them."
He also criticized the hiring of doctors without specialization to staff Accident and Emergency Departments.
He referred to the case of the Paphos A&E department, with the OSAK President saying "if we were a proper state, today the A&E departments of the Paphos Hospital should be closed, we are in danger".
In addition, Koumas criticised the CSO for hiring 500 people as clerical staff.
"Doctors sit two by two in an office, but we wanted Aluminum Tower for administration. Clerical staff was hired. Where the 500 are we don't know."
In her remarks, DISY MP Savvia Orphanidou described the YESY as the greatest achievement for the Cypriot citizen, but acknowledged that there are still weaknesses in a new organisation like the YESY, especially when it had to deal with an unprecedented global pandemic in its first two years of operation.
"That is why we are saying that with the cooperation of all stakeholders, with the cooperation of the Ministry of Health which provides a lot of support to the OCYPY, with the cooperation of the political parties to improve the weaknesses that we identify, but also with the cooperation of the management of the OCYPY, the guilds, doctors, nurses and all other stakeholders, we can at the end of the day make a YESY that we will be proud of and especially an organization that will manage our state hospitals and provide exactly what every Cypriot patient deserves, the best services," he added.
In favour of extending the timetable for the autonomy of public hospitals, AKEL MP Christos Christofides said.
"Due to the pandemic and the role that public health had to play in the pandemic, the timetable for the autonomy of public hospitals should be extended," he said in his statements.
He stressed that the most important thing is the danger to the very viability of public hospitals and without a strong public sector there can be no GHS either. He called for such as the OCYP to "develop a strategic plan with timetables for the implementation of objectives to ensure that we have public hospitals after 2024."
Source: KYPE
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