CYPRUS has dropped seven places on the Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) launched in Brussels yesterday, sliding from 13th to 21st in one year.
“This is a notable decline from last year,” said a statement from EHCI.
In six categories, covering 34 performance indicators, Cyprus scored 563 points out of a potential 1,000.
“This means a substantial lowering status of Cyprus in the EU ranking,” the statement added.
The Netherlands led the 31 countries with a score of 839 points, followed by Denmark, Austria, Luxemburg and Sweden.
Ahead of Cyprus were Slovenia and Greece, both of whom also scored less than 600. Malta was two ranks behind Cyprus with 532, and Latvia was at the bottom with a score of 449.
The EHCI said Cyprus’ slide was due more to realistic estimates the EHCI had compared to last year, rather than a huge drop from one year to the next.
This meant last year’s score for Cyprus was over optimistic.
“Cyprus could improve by subsidising medicines to a higher degree, and include more of them, as well as dental care, in the public offering.
“Patient rights and information should also be reconsidered,” said EHCI president Johan Hjertqvist, analysing the index outcomes for Cyprus.
The EHCI said Cyprus was problematic to score, “as no other member state has as high a proportion of healthcare being privately funded.”
“If the patient can afford to pay out of pocket, good healthcare can be had in any country,” it added.
The index covers such categories as patient rights and information, e-Health, waiting time for treatment, outcomes, range and reach of services provided and pharmaceuticals.
Another black mark against Cyprus was the lack of response for the second year running when the Health Ministry was sent the index to add its comment.
On October 8, 2008, preliminary score sheets were sent out to Ministries of Health or state agencies of all 31 states, giving the opportunity to supply more recent data and/or higher quality data than what is available in the public domain.
Health Minister Christos Patsalides, asked yesterday to comment on the index, said he was not aware of it. He said he would not be able to comment until early next week.
