Committee proposes Child Health Institute

THE HOUSE Health Committee yesterday discussed the need for the creation of a Child Health Institute, which would encompass both children’s physical and mental issues, and improve research as well as advance health policies and systems that promote the health and wellbeing of children.

The proposal was put forward by committee chairwoman and DISY deputy Eleni Theocharous and was the first public discussion on the matter to get the ball rolling on a scientific project that promises to improve child patients’ quality of life.

If and when approved, a Child Health Institute could include the fields of paediatric orthopaedics, malignancies, genetic disorders, psychiatry, prenatal screening, neurological disorders, environmental impacts on children’s health and much more.

The Health Minister Charis Charalambous, district hospitals’ paediatric department heads, prenatal and paediatric organisation representatives, were among those called to give an opinion on at topic that is still in its embryonic stages.

Paediatric Society president Dr Maro Solomou said a Child Health Institute would act as a point of reference for local paediatricians and could even later be used to help train Cypriot doctors seeking specialisation rather than them going abroad.

At present all were in agreement there was no umbrella under which children’s health initiatives came under and that a single, cohesive institution would help dispel any confusion in developing children’s health policies, and would also allow the government to apply for EU funds allocated to such projects.

Legislation Commissioner Leda Koursoumba said such an institute was long overdue, as it was in line with the Convention of the Rights of the Child, which Cyprus had signed, but that it needed the efforts of all concerned to succeed.

Theocharous suggested setting up a committee of experts to draw up how to go about setting up the institute. What budget the committee had to work with and how vast the project could be would be discussed at a later date.
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