By the end of November, it is estimated that the new pricing policy will be fully implemented, which will result in reductions of 15% to 50% on drugs that are currently expensive. This was stated by the Minister of Health Stavros Malas, who inaugurated and was guided in the morning at the Mild Emergency Clinic of the General Hospital and at the information center for relatives. According to the Minister, the new doctor's office results in the rapid service of patients and at the same time the reduction of the workload of doctors.
Referring to the information center for relatives, he said that it is a place where there is "a direct communication between doctors and relatives so that there is proper and valid information". The Minister referred in his statements to a new fee of 10 euros, which should be paid by all those who turn to First Aid, except for retirees and some special teams. The bill, he said, has been sent to Parliament for voting and implementation.
In statements after the tour and answering a question about how the issue of the new pricing policy for medicines is progressing, he stated that "too many actions have been taken", adding that "we will make our final decisions as we said at the end of August. in the worst case the 1st week of September ". He explained that there would be a period of adjustment for the implementation of the new policy, saying that "you understand that any change in the pricing of medicines will directly affect pharmacies and there should be a grace period so that stocks purchased at a higher price to be eliminated ".
He added that "our calculations are that by the end of November the new pricing policy will be fully implemented, which we estimate will have a very significant reduction in some drugs up to 50%." He clarified that "in general the reduction will be of the order of 15% - 20%, but in some drugs it will be up to 50% ".
Answering a question about the type of drugs that will be reduced, Mr. Malas said that "there are certain antibiotics for example, which I understand will be greatly reduced." In particular, he added, "the reductions will concern medicines that will be more than 10 euros, ie the most expensive medicines." Referring to the new Mild Clinic operating at the Nicosia Hospital, the Minister explained that "the incidents that are coming to be processed at "Emergency Department and they are mild will not enter the ward of the Emergency Department, but will be processed in a specially designed clinic so that patients can be served quickly."
He also added, "we are launching the information space for relatives of patients in surgeries". "After performing any surgery, the doctor has to inform the patients' relatives and we have achieved this here at the General Hospital for a few weeks now - I must tell you - with great success." There is, he said, "a direct communication between doctors and relatives so that there is proper and valid information." Asked to provide more specific information regarding the benefits of the First Aid Screening Center, Mr. Malas said that "it becomes immediate service of the citizens, some incidents which are not urgent you realize that they are processed very quickly and the waiting time in the TAEP is limited ".
Answering a clarifying question regarding the percentage of these incidents, the Minister said that "it can be up to 20% and 30% of the incidents". So, he added, "you realize that the workload that the doctors previously had in the ward and the waiting time is much longer." Asked if such a thing should apply to other hospitals such as the one in Limassol, he said that "there is this clarification in Limassol, but I must tell you that especially in the Limassol General Hospital the infrastructure is quite old, the capacity of the Emergency Department is smaller ". He added that "things are even worse in Larnaca", explaining that this is mainly due to the fact that they are older hospitals than the one in Nicosia.
At the same time, the Minister informed that "we are in the final stage of entering into offers to drastically upgrade the Emergency Department of the Limassol Hospital, so that it can handle the incidents faster and the conditions are more humane".
In his own statements, the Executive Director of the New General Hospital of Nicosia, Petros Matsas, expressed his satisfaction "because we are starting with two new innovations, one, the Emergency Clinic in First Aid, which we believe will give a boost and a solution to the world." "It will be served faster, as the Minister said earlier." "It is a pan-Cypriot innovation, it is the first Mild Clinic applied in a public hospital", he said, adding that "we will see it in a pilot how it will perform and we will proceed with applied to other hospitals ".
The other, he added, "is the Relatives' Information Room in surgeries, which is the second to be applied nationwide", explaining that the first is already operating at Makareio Hospital.
Fee 10 euros for First Aid
Mr. Malas also stated that a few days ago the Council of Ministers decided to introduce a fee of 10 euros for First Aid that will apply to all except retirees and some special groups. To this he gave the example of the Security Forces. The bill has already gone to Parliament, he said.
"This, you realize, will deter many who abuse these services, and as the doctor said, there are third-country nationals who use the side door to enter the hospital, which is the Emergency Department," he said. "We have to realize that the health system in Cyprus and I mean the public hospitals are under enormous pressure." All of them, he added, "have constant demands from doctors and staff to perform their services faster", stating that "these can not always be provided free of charge". It must, he said, "make a very small, symbolic contribution to all of us to be able to cope with this enormous workload."
Asked whether there will be any other charges for examinations, the Minister said that "in outpatient clinics we have also decided to include a very small fee of 50 cents per examination, especially blood tests, so as to reduce abuse." Many times, he added, "the doctors themselves write tests, which are unnecessary." He congratulated the Management of the Nicosia Hospital, which "operates on a model, that is, of more - if you will - self-government and autonomy".
"This freedom given by the Ministry of Health to the Hospitals and especially to the Directorate of the General Hospital, but also to Makarios to take initiatives brings results", he said, adding that "they are small administrative acts, which have a very big positive benefit and they have no cost to the state. "
In his own statements for the new First Aid Clinic, the Director of TAEP Phoivos Costopoulos stated that "the reason we created the mild case clinic is when the ward due to workload is full and patients can not be served, the cases which we can see to see them ". He added that "the waiting time will be very short and there will be no pressure on the staff but also on the nursing and medical staff."
Asked about the arrival of patients in the First Aid on the 350th of August, he said that "fortunately this year we did not have such a high attendance in terms of cases of overeating or accidents, it was a quiet 370th of August". We saw, he said, "around 350 to 400 (patients) in the twenty-four hours of the XNUMXth of August." He explained that the average number of patients examined in the Department per twenty-four hours is XNUMX to XNUMX people.
Asked whether the public responds to calls not to rush to the First Aid for the slightest thing, Mr. Costopoulos said that after 25 years of experience in the First Aid he finds that unfortunately they still continue to come to the First Aid in the slightest. He added that "we also have a serious problem with foreign nationals".
Source: Andreas Pieris / TRUTH