Health Minister Giorgos Pamboridis said on Monday he would soon announce decisions aimed at alleviating problems at the Paphos and Polis Chrysochous hospitals.
Following his visit on Monday to the two hospitals, which face serious understaffing problems among other issues, Pamboridis said that he heard the opinions of the directors and doctors, and that he would make an announcement “within the day or tomorrow”.
Both the Paphos and Polis hospitals have been plagued with problems, and the health ministry has been pressured to find solutions, mainly to the understaffing.
The government had proposed that Paphos hospital’s general practitioners (GP) and cardiologists also examined patients at Polis but this was not well received by the physicians who said that this would only exacerbate the understaffing problem. Doctors called for the hiring of more medical staff at Polis, and warned on Sunday of measures if they were forced to go to there.
“Within the day or tomorrow the latest, the decisions of the ministry will be announced on the issue of resolving the staffing problems at the Polis hospital, but also those at some clinics in the Paphos general hospital,” Pamboridis said.
The aim is to find solutions promptly, he said, so that the Polis inpatient ward is reopened, but to also solve problems faced in Paphos.
“Our intention is to reopen the inpatient ward with additional GPs and a cardiologist,” Pamboridis said.
Polis mayor Angelos Odysseos gave Pamboridis a letter with the requests of residents in the area who staged a protest outside the hospital last week. Among others, the residents are calling on the minister to intervene so that Polis hospital is adequately manned by medical and other staff, and for the reopening of the inpatient ward. They also called on the health ministry to look into the weaknesses observed at the radiology department and the hospital’s lab.
Odysseos also stressed the need to hire more ambulance drivers.
Residents also gathered outside the Polis hospital on Monday to voice their opposition to what they called the government’s neglect of their hospital, which serves around 25 communities.
Marianna Kouppari who lives in Polis, said that the hospital must not be allowed to close as it serves hundreds of people. “The distance to Paphos hospital is huge and lives will be endangered,” she said.
Pamboridis told state broadcaster CyBC earlier in the day, that soon, he would submit to the heads of the parliamentary political parties two bills, one on hospital autonomy, the other on the National Health Scheme (NHS). He added that the NHS would introduce a single health sector market between the private and public arenas.
Last week, political leaders reached a consensus during their meeting with President Nicos Anastasiades as to how to proceed with the NHS. They were also presented with the government’s proposal which includes a road map for the implementation of the NHS. The meeting was part of the president’s initiative to steer steps leading up to the implementation of a health system.
