With the start today of the clinical education of the students of the University of Cyprus (PK) and the assumption of clinical duties by doctors of PK, it is essentially the first step for the gradual transformation of the Nicosia General Hospital into a University Hospital.
This was emphasized during a ceremony, on the occasion of the official start of clinical practice of the students of the Medical School of PK at the General Hospital of Nicosia.
In his greeting, the Minister of Health, George Pamporidis, said that “for me today is a very important day, since the Medical School of PK, of our state University, is now officially connected with the flagship of the Health Services of our country, the only tertiary hospital that we have in our country ".
I have to apologize, on behalf of the State, he noted, because he did not take care in time to establish an integrated framework that will regulate the cooperation of the Medical School of the State University with the public hospitals. "We all have responsibilities. "Apart from the delay, however, we have even greater responsibilities and it is the obligation of all of us to assist, even in the best possible way in the last one, in bringing these two state institutions together," he added.
Addressing the students, he told them that “you are the cream of our youth, you are the best that Secondary Education has to show in grades, and you entered the Medical School, which is the most difficult School at the State University, with dreams of serving the your fellow man ”. On the other hand, from today, he continued, you are entering an Organization and in particular a hospital, which is the flagship of the Health Services in our country.
"There is nothing better in our country in Health than the General Hospital of Nicosia, the tertiary hospital of our country and it is the duty of the State to open its gates to you, who are the cream of our students and to welcome you, to obtain the "Clinical experience provided by this particular hospital because this is where the coupling between your theoretical catechism that you had at the University and your internship in the Clinics will be created", he noted.
I want to apologize, he said, because due to the inaction of the State - and in the State I include all the bodies involved - frictions were created, which do not honor any of us at the level of officials of both the Ministry of Health and the University. I assure you, he noted, that we have nothing to separate from each other. It is the duty of all of us to work together, he continued, with the sole aim of how you students become, the team in which the hospital doctors will pass the special knowledge, while at the same time our hospital doctors will gain access to the research, which will be provided through the universities. structures.
"It is the intention of the State, in the coming months to quickly introduce legislation, which will resolve and regulate all issues of cooperation between Medical Schools and clinical practice, for the way that university clinics will operate not only in public hospitals, but in our country in general. To this end, I look forward to the cooperation of all bodies and trade unions of doctors and other health professionals ", he added.
I assure you, said Mr. Pamporidis, that as far as the Ministry of Health is concerned, everything possible will be done so that the students' training can be completed in the best possible way and without problems and as far as the Ministry of Health is concerned. We will try to reap the benefits and opportunities offered to us by the cooperation with the University, allowing and encouraging all the professionals of the public hospitals to be involved in these processes and new opportunities offered through this cooperation.
In his greeting, the Executive Medical Director of the Nicosia General Hospital, Marios Loizou, said that "today is essentially the first step for the gradual transformation of the Nicosia General Hospital into a University Hospital".
It is my belief, he noted, that this project, no matter how difficult it may be in the end, will be successfully completed and we will be able together with the colleagues of PK in three years to deliver to the Cypriot society the first graduates of the Medical School of the University of Cyprus.
On behalf of the Dean of the Medical School of PK, Professor of Pediatrics Panagiotis Giallouros said that "it is certain that the creation of certified clinics will enhance the competitiveness of public hospitals in the coming era of autonomous financial management in the conditions of GESSY and will open the whole of the health sector, public and private for the provision of health services that will make us all proud ”.
He stated that the goal of the cooperation between PK and GNL is to ensure a high level of medical education for students, to provide a high level of health services for the citizens and to develop clinical research.
The Rector of PK Konstantinos Christofidis said that “today is indeed a very important day. We went through a thousand waves and the intervention of the Minister of Health was a catalyst ".
The cooperation of the state Medical School with the state hospitals, he said, is the natural evolution of the modernization of the system. "The goal of the Medical School is not only the production of 30-40 doctors per year, it is the transformation of the General Hospital of Nicosia and not only, into a University Hospital. It is something that we owe to our place and especially to the ordinary people of our place ", he noted.
He called on the Management and the doctors of the Nicosia General Hospital to welcome the children with love, with the students reciprocating this love with unbridled professionalism. "You are the first to come to the General Hospital, others will follow and you must leave good examples for the others to come," he told the students.
The excellent fourth-year student of the Medical School, Andreas Mattheou, said that incomprehensibly today is a key point for their education. "From today we gain access to public hospitals and first of all to the General Hospital of Nicosia, which in this way takes the first step to become the first University Hospital of Cyprus", he noted.
It is an operation, he continued, that we have been looking forward to, I can say for a very long time, since the General Hospital of Nicosia is the crown of patient care in Cyprus, thus becoming the most suitable place for our clinical education. "In this area we are now ready to receive the best possible education with the guaranteed experience of both University and hospital doctors", he concluded.