HEALTH MINISTER Charis Charalambous yesterday met with the House Health Committee for the first time, leaving its deputies hopeful that they could work well with the new minister who appeared to recognise the need for improvement in public healthcare and came across as open to positive change.
“Health is the basic right of citizens. It is not a luxury, but a basic human right,” he told deputies.
He said the ministry’s approach to public health was as a uniform whole, taking into account both the private and public sector.
The minister acknowledged health issues had “unlimited needs” and yet “limited resources” and promised the ministry would spend its budget wisely. The request for additional funds would be supported with evidence of how money had already been spent, and what the extra money was for, he said.
Charalambous said the ministry was in the process of drawing up a condensed report on a list of 20 health ministry issues, including the national health system, the transfer of the new Nicosia general hospital, the operation of the Famagusta district hospital, nursing staff, tenders and more. He said the report would be ready by next week and a copy given to each deputy.
Of all the deputies only DISY deputy Costas Constantinou appeared sceptical.
“People [Health Ministers] have made promises in the past and even given dates when the new hospital will open. They’ve only been words… We hope that something changes for the better. So that there are no misunderstandings we will not accept messages being put across and then nothing going the way it’s supposed to,” Constantinou said.
The minister took on board the DISY deputy’s words, but reiterated that as a ministry with unlimited needs and limited resources, prioritising would be necessary at points.
Following a brief introduction by each of the deputies to welcome the new minister to his new post, Health Ministry representatives gave a brief outline of their department, how it operated, and what role it played as part of efforts to improve public healthcare.
Permanent secretary Soteris Soteriou added that it was the ministry’s aim to improve services, which were outdated and needed revision, “through no fault of the people that work [at hospitals]”, and said he hoped that change could be brought about without certain unnamed groups putting their own self-interests before the better good of public health.
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