During 2017, 81,856 patients were treated and discharged from the general hospitals of the public sector compared to 78,486 in 2016, recording an increase of 4.3%, Cyprus Statistical Service figures show.
In addition, 1,556 patients were treated and discharged from Kyperounta and Polis Rural Hospitals in 2017 compared to 1,481 in 2016, recording an increase of 5.1%.
In 2017, the bed occupancy rate of the general hospitals of the public sector was 75.6%, recording a slight increase compared to 2016, when it was 73.1%. The respective percentage for the rural hospitals in 2017 was 51.8%, recording an increase from 2016, when it was 46.9%.
Neoplasms have the highest share, 14.5% of the total patients discharged from general hospitals, followed by diseases of the circulatory system with 9.7%, injuries, poisoning and certain other consequences of external causes with 9.5%, diseases of the digestive system with 8.9% and diseases of the respiratory system with 8,5%. All other disease categories account for 43.5%, whereas “Not stated” accounts for 5.4%.
Out-patient attendances
During 2017 a total of 1,800,016 out-patient attendances were recorded at the public medical institutions, recording a slight increase of 0.2% compared to 1,796,654 in 2016. Additionally, in 2017 a total of 301.624 patients visited the casualty departments, compared to 309,426 patients in 2016, recording a decrease of 2.5%.
Deaths and causes of death
In 2017, 6,188 deaths have been recorded, including all deaths of residents, as well as non-residents dying in Cyprus. A percentage of 52.9% of total deaths (3,274 deaths) refers to men, whereas 47.1% (2,914 deaths) refers to women. The main causes of death were diseases of the circulatory system (32.3%), neoplasms (23.7%), diseases of the respiratory system (9.7%), endocrine, nutritional and metabolic diseases (7.0%), as well as external causes of injury and poisoning (5.2%). Other causes of death follow with lower frequencies.
METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION
Definitions
In-patient: Is a person who has been through the full admission procedure in one of the general/rural hospitals and for whom a “patient’s file” has been prepared and remained at the hospital for treatment for at least one night, or admitted and discharged at the same day.
Out-patient attendance: Is the visit of the patient to an out-patient department.
Sources of data and coverage
In-patient discharges: Data on patients who are admitted for treatment and discharged from the government hospitals (discharges) are collected in electronic form from all the hospitals. Micro databases are forwarded to the Statistical Service and the compilation, tabulation and analysis of data are performed by Statistics Officers.
Out-patient attendances: From the data on out-patient attendances in general and rural hospitals that are sent in electronic form to the Statistical Service of Cyprus, the “problematic records”, i.e. males visiting gynaecology departments or adults visiting paediatric departments etc., are only taken into account for weighting cases to the total.
As regards the health centres (H.C.), the total number of out-patient visits as reported by all health centres is distributed by speciality, sex and age according to the percentage distribution obtained from the electronic data extracted from the IT systems. The following health centres own an IT system: H.C Aglantzia, Lakatamia, Egkomi, Kaimakli, Strovolos, Agios Dometios, Klirou, Palaichori, Avgorou, Ormideia, Linopetra and Larnaka Old Hospital.
Causes of death: The source is the Cause of Death Register owned by the Health Monitoring Unit of the Ministry of Health. The total number of deaths recorded in the register, includes all deaths occurring in Cyprus, both of residents and non-residents, as well as deaths of Cypriot residents occurring abroad.
