ALONG with a damning report on the anachronistic and inadequate condition of the outpatient state clinics, Ombudswoman Iliana Nicolaou has given the government two months to come up with a plan to bring them up to acceptable standards.
In the report Nicolaou said that despite a recent upgrading of state health services, which includes adopting a legal framework for patients’ rights and appointing officials who deal with patient complaints, the outpatient clinics remain anachronistic.
Yesterday’s Politis reported that Nicolaou’s intervention was in part due to complaints her office has received as well as to recent press coverage of the inadequate state facilities.
According to the report, the outpatient clinics are characterised by long waiting lines, a lack of space and basic facilities, the loss or misplacement of medical cards, and rude treatment of patients by clinic personnel. The report went on to say that these conditions were corroborated by the reports of the appointed official in each clinic who deals with patient complaints.
The Ombudswoman notes that most of the patients are elderly people living in rural areas, meaning that they often arrive early and face long waits. The first queue is formed during registration.
“The registration and the locating of the medical card takes place by hand and not through computers, because the system has not been computerised.
“Then the patient waits in line for a second time, depending on how many patients are waiting for treatment. There is no privacy, either for patients or doctors, who cannot exit surgery unseen.”
If the patients are prescribed drugs, they then contend with a third waiting line in the pharmacy.
“The waiting rooms are decrepit, without colour, without comfort, without sufficient lighting and ventilation and with a lot of noise.”
After what may often be hours of waiting, the patients then have only a very short time with the doctor. According to the Ombudswoman, with the average number of patients seen daily by the doctor at 50, the average patient visit time with the doctor is eight minutes.
During these mere eight minutes, the doctor reviews the patient medical history, questions, examines, and diagnoses the patient, prescribes any drugs, and updates the patient’s medical record.
Because the outpatient clinics lack a single information network, one patient can visit various clinics in which analyses and examinations are conducted that are not documented elsewhere. This lack of co-ordination via a computerised network means that more time is wasted and the same procedures are often repeated unnecessarily.
Much of the Ombudswoman’s criticism of the outpatient clinics has also been vocaliced, and in even stronger language, by the state doctors themselves.
In January, state doctors went on strike in protest of what they see as a collapsing health care system and presented the government with a list of demands.
Their main grievance has been that they lack manpower and are overwhelmed by the daily number of patients they see, which has increased now that Turkish Cypriots have access to free health care.
Aside from demanding additional physicians and nurses – something the government has said is not possible due to a government financial austerity programme – the doctors have also demanded better salaries, career prospects and retraining.
Nicolaou has given the government two months to report back to her with an action plan to address the state clinic deficiencies.
