The new government will not only support the YESY, but will upgrade it even further, said President of the Republic Nicos Christodoulides, who visited the Limassol General Hospital, accompanied by Health Minister Popi Kanari.
During his visit to the Hospital, President Christodoulides, speaking to the staff and staff of the Hospital, said, among other things, that "I recognize the important role you play. And I am not saying this as President of the Republic, but in 2015 I was fortunate enough to have my fourth daughter born at the Limassol General Hospital and I know first-hand the services and quality offered at the Limassol General Hospital.
"So, the first thing I would like to mention is the recognition from me personally, but also from the State in general for the important role you play.
The second thing I would like to clarify and send a message in all directions, is that anyone who has doubts should not have any more. For me and our Government, the GHS was the most important social reform that has taken place in this country and this important social reform will be supported by our Government. Not only will it be supported but we will do everything possible to upgrade it even further. We are ready to make those changes that need to be made, always within the philosophy that has been introduced. We will not tamper with the philosophy, but yes, there are problems, such a major reform is bound to have problems. The opposite would be strange.
I want to assure you that as a government we will do everything possible.
For us there are four areas where the state should have a leading, dominant role. The areas of public health, public education, the welfare state and public security.
In these four areas, our approach as a government will be that we will have a leading role.
For me, you are the experts in the area of health. What counts at the end of the day, where we as the Government and you as the scientific and administrative staff, the OCYPY, the OAY, and you, Mrs Kanari, as Minister of Health, will be judged, is the quality of the services provided. It is where our efforts should be focused.
I grew up, and I imagine many of you did, knowing that every difficult case in Cyprus ended up in our public hospitals. This is a comparative advantage that our public hospitals have both because of the equipment and, of course, because of the staff. Both scientific and administrative staff.
We will do everything possible from our side to upgrade our public hospitals.
I know, and here I ask for your cooperation, that changes have to be made. On the one hand to save the GHS - I cannot even think or discuss the issue or prospect of abolishing the GHS, let me make that clear.
At the same time we need to work together to strengthen it even more.
I heard your 'diagnosis' of the hospital, I am interested in the 'cure'.
Immediately after your contacts with Ms Kanari, not only at Limassol General Hospital, but with all the hospitals, you will come and we will discuss putting timetables for solving these problems that have been mentioned.
I want to say something about the patients, because all of you who are here, and we as a government are here to meet the expectations of the Cypriot people. We have to work together, and with the patients. I have also received several messages these days, today with social media you can receive any message, when it became known that I will come to Limassol Hospital. I received several messages, several photos, especially for the First Aid Department. My wish and expectation, and I am optimistic that we can manage, is that there will be no more of this kind of phenomena. And in this you are not competitors.
We approach you as partners. If we succeed, you will succeed, if you succeed, we will succeed, and I invite you to work together. Along the way we will have different approaches, we may have different tactics on how to solve the problems, but I am sure that if we manage to solve the problems that exist - and indeed there are problems, we must acknowledge that - at the end of the day we will all be winners and above all the Cypriot people, because you and we are here to meet their expectations.
To thank you for being here, to thank the media for being with us from the beginning" of the visit.
The President then asked to have a private meeting with hospital officials so that, he said, he could hear from all those on the front line about the state of affairs.
(PM/MB/EXP)
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