The purchase of services fromĀ private doctors will be needed to cover the needs of public hospitals this Summer. A number of posts has already been advertised. The Ministry, moreover, is waiting for the recruitment of 40 nurses for Emergency Departments across the country. By yesterday no formal applications were made from interested nurses, but the relevant notice is still in force.
Yesterday, the Health Ministry signaled that the Larnaca Hospital A & E Department was seriously understaffed, since two of the Department’s doctors were absent with sick leave. After discussions with Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou, it was decided that because of the urgent needs of the Larnaca A & E Department, emergency medical care will be temporarily covered by doctors serving in outpatient clinics, with their work marked as overtime. A mix-up initially occurred, as there was in-house correspondence on the matter, unbeknown to the medical services of the Ministry of Health and the Minister himself.
Minister Ioannou, said that the congestion at A & E Departments during the Summer months is a yearly phenomenon partly because of the notion that it is okay to leave elderly people in the hospital in the summer. As Ioannou stated, the vast majority of those visiting A & E Departments do not constitute emergency cases. The authorities hope to counter this problem with the restructuring of primary health care.
Meanwhile, the operation of the express medical service of the Nicosia General Hospital is still spending.The Health Ministry hopes to recruit private doctors to work there for, at least, the next three months.
