Extra cash for health service

TIGHTER security in the island’s state hospitals is among the Health Ministry’s six goals for an improved health system in 2008.

Speaking during yesterday’s parliamentary discussion on his ministry’s 2008 budget, Health Minister Costas Kadis said the operation of the General Health System was among his top goals, as well as a restructuring of the Health Ministry and the empowerment of preventive medicine.

The ministry’s budget for 2008 has increased by 14.3 per cent compared to the year before, reaching £308,107,236, while its development budget has increased to £16,976,950, up 15.43 per cent compared to 2007.

Speaking after the meeting, Kadis referred to the Cabinet’s decision on Wednesday to employ and train special security guards for state hospitals, saying it was an effective way to deal with the security problems hospitals have been facing.

“There is a package of measures, among which is the employment and training of a significant number of special security guards,” he said, adding that the entire procedure was expected to last four to six months. “In the meantime, procedures are being promoted to install safety cameras and controlled access systems.”

The minister pointed out that the public had a major role to play in maintaining the island’s hospital’s safe and clean: “The culture of people visiting the hospitals needs to change; visitors continue to light cigarettes inside hospitals and stub them out on the floor.”

He added that people continued to enter ER eating sandwiches or talking on their mobile phones, while doctors and nurses had reported a number of incidents where they had been treated inappropriately. “And there have been cases where hospital equipment has been stolen,” Kadis continued.

Cyprus, he added, currently holds the 13th position in the EU regarding its medical services, climbing from 19th position in the space of a year. “The services offered are above the EU average, which indicates the continuous upgrade of the services offered,” Kadis concluded.

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