Cuts in health budget will not affect patient care

THE HEALTH Minister yesterday assured that any cuts in the health budget as part of the general effort to reduce state expenses will not cause negative consequences on patients’ health.

“It is no the intention of this government and the health ministry to leave patients without medicine or to allow the emergence of adverse effects to their health,” Christos Patsalides said.

The minister stressed that Cyprus was going through a recession where measures were needed to improve the economy but he assured that there was no intention to deprive the public of what is necessary for their health.

“For us the aim is not cuts that will have negative effects on people but cutting waste,” Patsalides said. “We have all seen phenomena of people leaving with bags full of medicine; this is waste that needs to be contained.”

An all too frequent phenomenon, especially at outpatient clinics, is people being supplied with months-long supplies of drugs in one go.

Patsalides said the medicines budget would not be cut without careful thought, adding that what was necessary were better checks.

“I am sorry to say that audit procedures in public hospitals are something that does not respond to the level they should be,” the minister said.

Asked to elaborate on the reductions, the minister said the finance ministry has made some suggestions but because of the sensitivity of the sector, any analysis should be done with special caution.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.