THE CYPRUS Medical Association (CMA) will go ahead with its new policy of charging €100 to process every complaint against doctors despite Consumers’ Association objections, it emerged yesterday.
Cyprus Consumers association president Petros Markou said yesterday that the €100 fee, introduced on Tuesday by the Council to deter groundless complaints and cover costs, was too high and should be refundable.
Markou said: “We think €100 is too much, and they should make a provision to refund the fee if the complainants’ case is found to be legitimate. Now there is none.”
He explained that such a policy of returning administrative fees is already in place for legitimate consumer complaints against shopkeepers.
According to recently approved legislation on alternative out of court dispute resolution, complainants’ deposits made at the start of the investigation process (depending on the case) are refundable.
CMA president Andreas Demetriou defended his board’s decision to introduce the fee yesterday, saying that it was necessary to cover the administrative costs.
“We decided €100 is the minimum needed to cover the expenses of meetings” Demetriou said, adding that the Council typically receives 70 to 80 complaints annually, and last year they received 95.”
Each application takes the nine person strong ethics committee between two and three months to process, with “many” turning out to be dubious and lacking substantial grounds for a complaint. There are 25 members on the board.
The €100 fee has therefore also been introduced as a deterrent.
Demetriou refused to comment on the number of doctors found to be at fault or unethical, or the investigation process.
While healthcare can be considered a consumer issue and therefore among the Consumer Association’s activities, one patient’s recent experience shows medical issues can be more complex than malpractice in the retail sector, and so demand particular care on the part of the CMA.
The patient, who wished to remain anonymous, is pursuing action against her gynaecologist for the allegedly negligent handling of her child’s birth, leading to life threatening complications and temporary separation from her child.
She said that health is an emotional and not just a financial issue, and that charging a €100 fee could be taking advantage of this.
“For €100 I would still file a complaint because you can’t put a price on health, and I have to stop (the doctor) from doing it again… but it is definitely taking advantage,” she told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.
Demetriou said the CMA would go ahead with their plan for now, but said he would see how the implementation would work in practice, and they might consider revising it.