THE HEART Patients Association has submitted a list of demands to the Health Ministry, which it hopes will help improve medical treatment for heart patients across the island.
The Association recently completed a number of visits to the cardiology units of the island’s district hospitals, with the aim of investigating the treatments heart patients were receiving and spotting any problems.
“Our common conclusion is that the treatment conditions are far from satisfactory,” said Savvas Georgiou, the association’s vice president. “In some cases the conditions are unacceptable, taking into consideration the long waiting lists to carry out specialist examinations.”
The exceedingly long waiting lists, especially in Nicosia, pose a serious threat to heart patients, he added, with some conditions needing urgent attention.
“There are serious problems in the medical treatment of heart patients; the measures taken by the state are unfortunately a far way away from resolving the problems. We need immediate effective measures to alleviate these waiting lists, so we can stop mourning the unnecessary loss of lives,” said Georgiou.
In a bid to improve the situation, the Association has submitted a memorandum to the Health Minister with a number of requests and measures.
The first problem that needs to be tackled, according to the memo, is the long waiting lists; a problem faced by all districts but most intensely by the capital.
During their visits they found that to have a thallium test – when dark liquid is injected in a patient’s veins to see if there are any blockages in the arteries during an x-ray – there is an 18 month waiting list. To receive a cardiology ultrasound, patients have to wait up to 11 months, while to have a fitness test, it takes up to four months. Some lists have been reduced, for example to have a catheterisation, which now only takes up to two months.
“It is a fact that waiting lists have generally reduced in recent times, as a result of the measures that were taken, especially introducing afternoon working hours,” said Georgiou. “However, we are saddened to realise that this improvement has started to reverse following the end of afternoon working hours; we feel it is necessary to immediately bring back afternoon working hours.”
Lack of medical staff is also a vast contributor to the problem, he added, calling on the ministry to ensure state hospitals are better staffed and equipped.
Another problem is routine checks, which according to the association are far and few between. “In some districts, heart patients receive their routine checks every six months, while there are cases where this can reach 12 months; we feel this situation is unacceptable, because it poses serious dangers to heart patients,” said Georgiou.
Under normal circumstances, he explained, patients should be checked every three months. “Hiring more staff is imperative to ensure heart patients are receiving adequate observation,” said Georgiou.
Another way of dealing with this, he added, would be to satisfy the Association’s request to allow patients to visit private doctors, yet use state pharmacies to get their prescriptions – provided the medication is part of the State Prescription List and patients pay the doctor fee. “We fail to understand why the ministry has so far refused to satisfy this request,” said Georgiou.
Then there is the lack of defibrillators, up to three-month waiting lists to receive heart surgery and the need to improve the substructure of all of the island’s hospitals.
Finally, Georgiou wished to underline the “serious problem heart patients are facing by being discriminated against by the state when it comes to their right for free medical treatment”.
The Association raised this issue over a year ago, saying there were 27 other health sectors that received free treatment and it was unfair that heart patients weren’t being treated the same.
The Association has given the ministry a month to respond to its requests.
