The Minister of Health, Mr Michalis Hadjipandela, after his visit to the Famagusta and Larnaca General Hospitals, gave statements to the representatives of the attending media. The Health Minister said: "Our public hospitals from the first day I took office have been my second home, and the doctors, nurses and staff my second family. Before I leave the Ministry of Health, I will pass through all the hospitals. I will try to see all the people one by one and say a big thank you to them for being there for me throughout this wonderful journey. I want to thank them and give them a hug. And to assure them that I will always be there for them. The Minister of Health will rest the next day, but he will always be concerned about our hospitals and our doctors and our nurses and our nursing staff."
Asked what advice he would give to the new Minister of Health, Mr, Hajipandela replied, "There are remarkable professionals in the health sector, in public nursing homes, and we need to embrace these people because they have proven themselves in difficult times. They have done this work and no one can doubt it."
Responding to a question about the Hemodialysis Unit of the Famagusta General Hospital, Hatzipandela said: "I was moved. I was moved. I remembered at the beginning of March, when I entered the hospital, quite upset about the situation, when I realised that this unit was not functioning. I feel very satisfied because a number of people confided in me and said to me, Minister, when you told us this unit would work, nobody thought it would work. I feel great satisfaction, I also saw all the patients, they are receiving their treatments in an excellent place, a decent place, and not the place where it was before."
Asked whether there are pending issues that will be forwarded to the new government, such as bills that are in Parliament and the patient advocate, Hajipandela said: "The patient advocate will go to Cabinet on Wednesday. Another bill, the one on ambulances which unfortunately has been left behind, I will also try to get that to Cabinet before the end of my term. Also with the university clinics, there will be a final meeting today at the Ministry of Health and hopefully tomorrow it will be sent to the Legal Service, and if I can get it through, it will also be sent to Cabinet so that this chapter can be closed. Unfortunately in our country there is not any bill that regulates the operation of ambulances. This was also a bill that has been left behind. We have done a lot of work in the last 18 months. It is towards the end; there are some small loose ends left. Our goal is to work as much as we need to in these last few days to get this to cabinet as well."
In closing, Hajipandela said: "Before we finish I want to say a big thank you to two people who have really been by my side throughout this time at these two hospitals. First is Doctor Adamos Hadjipanagis who is here with me. Doctor, a big thank you because we were concerned about what was happening in our hospital every day. I could call the doctor an hour, Saturday, Sunday 10 o'clock at night, 11 o'clock at night to see what's going on. First aid was blocked, what's going on? We have an issue. The doctor would always answer the phone and tell me, Minister, don't worry, I'll pop in and see for myself what's going on if we had an emergency, as we had quite a few emergencies with young people and the doctor was informed, he could come to the emergency room any time of the day and see what's going on. A big thank you doctor for what you did. A second big thank you is to Amalia Hatzigianni. When we took over the ministry in difficult circumstances with the coronavirus, I would start the day with the first call to Rianna in the ambulances, the second to Amalia, asking her how we were doing, do we have beds? Amalia always by our side, always worried that we would get through the difficult times we were going through, encouraging each other that we would make it. A big thank you for these two people who have been by my side in these moments, and a big thank you from the state for what they have done over the last 19 months that I have been Minister of Health."
(AF)
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