Medical association to commission NHS study

The island’s medical association (PIS) announced on Wednesday that it has decided to commission a study for a universal, comprehensive, and viable NHS.

“We want to contribute to the study of a system addressed to all our fellow citizens, independent of their socioeconomic status,” PIS said.

The association said it wanted a system that would be functionally and financially viable and could be supported by the state.

The study will be conducted by Deloitte.

The objective is to have conclusions based on logical and feasible arguments and financial facts, and to take into account the Cypriot reality, PIS said.

“The study will take into consideration all the views and suggestions of the stakeholders tasked with implementing the system,” PIS said. “We are certain that the initiative will contribute to the substantive transformation and upgrade of the medical services on offer.”

Health Minister Giorgos Pamboridis irked health professionals earlier this month after he suggested there were private doctors who did not want to see the NHS implemented because they benefited hugely from the way the health system currently operated.
Doctors operate in an uncontrolled environment with minimum competition and make a lot of money, which in many cases goes undeclared, he said. All this would change when the NHS is introduced.

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.