During the first months of the introduction of the General Healthcare System (GHS), George Pamboridis, who as Minister of Health had managed – after decades of discussions – to implement the institution, explained in a public statement that problems observed from the side of beneficiaries could be interpreted according to the theory of free ice cream.
“When ice cream is offered for free, some will run daily to get a cone until they realize that free ice cream will be forever.”
In a few months, it will be five years since GHS entered our lives, yet the queues for free ice cream have not decreased, while the service stations (to stick to the same theory) are increasing at rates similar to those once seen with banks and betting shops.
Almost in every neighborhood. Stores are turning into pharmacies and diagnostic centers, floors of apartment buildings into clinics, existing hospitals are expanding, and foreign hospitals have announced the creation of branches in Cyprus. Nevertheless, to secure an appointment, you’ll have to join a waiting list.
The day before yesterday, before the Human Rights Committee, a representative of the GHS Supervisory Commissioner’s Office mentioned that contracted specialist doctors exploit the fact that waiting lists are long and charge patients to give them appointments outside of GHS.
How is it possible in a place with around 1.5 million inhabitants and so many doctors, clinics, and diagnostic centers to have the queues that once existed in hospitals?
The hospitals, on the other hand, have largely been decongested, except for the Emergency Departments and the hospital wards, which are a painful and complicated story.
It has been said many times that they have turned into nursing homes since all the elderly end up there. Why does this happen? Because if something happens to an elderly person, they have nowhere to turn. Personal doctors rarely respond, and no one offers home visits.
The only solution remains transportation to the Emergency Departments, but it is a common secret that patient selection takes place, resulting in older patients ending up in public hospitals. Where they will remain for 20 or 30 hours in the Emergency Departments until a bed is found in the appropriate ward or in a ward.
How are all these issues resolved before they become entrenched? (if this hasn’t already happened). Even if beneficiaries get their fill of ice cream, what will become of the “ice cream shops,” many of which have turned into businesses and like any business, aim for profit?
How will providers be persuaded to change their way of working?
